Rules of Engagement

Chapters

1. First Contact
2. Coincidence
3. Happenstance
4. Enemy Action
5. Love & War
6. Prisoners of War
7. Armistice
Epilogue: Peace In Our Time

1. First Contact

“We’re going where?”

Rainbow Dash grinned widely as she took a turn into uptown Canterlot.

“Strip club!” Dash said cheerily. “The good kind, too; a real upscale sorta place.”

I stared, wearing a wry grin, and laughed. “And we’re going to a strip club… why?”

“Because butts and titties?” Rainbow replied as if the answer were obvious. “C’mon Sunny, you’ve been in the middle of a dry spell since we broke up and that was what? A year ago?”

“Hey!” I grumbled, “I get some action every now and again.”

“Doesn’t count if it’s got batteries, Sunny,” Rainbow replied with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes. Rainbow wasn’t wrong, my romantic prospects hadn’t exactly been leaping to the fore. Part of it was my schedule, of course. After the girls and I had graduated we had all opted to attend Canterlot University together. I, along with Twilight, had both chosen to pursue majors in advanced sciences and computing which took up a great deal of my time. I love the work but it definitely meant I was spending an inordinate number of my evenings alone in the lab.

Since high school I had dated only sparsely, my last relationship being with Rainbow Dash herself and, as it turned out, putting two hyper-competitive, stubborn personalities in close quarters for extended periods of time resulted in some serious issues. It had nearly torn us apart as friends and we both had agreed to step back from anything romantic with one another in the future.

Of course, that did mean that my prospects had suddenly gone from narrow to all-but-zero.

“So your solution to my romantic woes is… a strip club?” I said in an arid voice. “Really?”

“Hey, don’t knock it,” Rainbow shot back with a grin, “the girls workin’ the tables and poles have more skill than half the ladies in my classes.”

“I’m not denying that,” I replied. “I’m just not sure how this is supposed to get me a date.”

“What it’s supposed to do,” Rainbow said, “is get your feet back in the water, alright?”

“Who says I need to?” I asked grumpily.

Rainbow sighed. “C’mon Sunset, I know we didn’t work out, like, romantically,” she said a little apologetically, “but we’ve always been the closest of our friends, and I do, y’know, still love you and all that junk. I know you, Sunny, and I know that you’re lonely.”

I sighed quietly as Rainbow slid into the parking lot of what looked like a large and well-kept lounge and settled back in the seat, wrapping my arms around myself as I stared out the window.

“I’m not lonely,” I said, after a moment.

“Bullshit,” Rainbow shot back, “c’mere.”

Rainbow unbuckled and reached out, taking my hand and pulling me closer. For a moment I resisted but my heart wasn’t in it, and instead I just leaned in to Rainbow Dash.

For however else our differences and similarities had defined our relationship so contentiously, I could never deny how beautiful Rainbow is. Her hair was shorn short to a pixie cut but kept the gorgeous prismatic shades, and her body was as fit and toned as one would expect of someone who had earned a full-ride soccer scholarship. Especially now, dressed in a low cut top with hip-hugging jeans and a ribbon choker that matched her eyes. So when Rainbow pressed her lips to mine I didn’t resist or pull back, I leaned in and shivered at the sudden affection.

Rainbow’s lips had always been astonishingly soft for someone who spent so much time outside running. The same was true of her hands, small and petite as they caressed my cheek and down my neck.

Pulling away, I let out a small moan of irritation. Rainbow was right, I was starving for affection, even with all of my friends.

Friends were nice but… it wasn’t what I needed or wanted at the moment.

“Still a good kisser?” Rainbow asked with that infuriatingly cocky grin of hers.

“Ugh, yeah,” I grumbled. “Maybe it has been a little while.”

“I’m not askin’ you to find your one-and-only, okay?” Rainbow said as she leaned back into her own seat. “I’m saying both as your friend and as someone who loves you like crazy: you gotta have some fun, have a few drinks, get a lap dance, and maybe get laid.”

“Dash…” I sighed. “I… I really wish we’d worked out, y’know?”

“Me too, Sunny,” Rainbow replied in a melancholy tone. “But it doesn’t always go like that, right? We’re still friends and I’m not going anywhere, okay? And I want to see you happy.”

I leaned over and kissed Rainbow warmly on the cheek.

“You’re the best, Dash.”

Rainbow smirked. “Don’t I know it, now let’s get in and watch some hot chicks dance naked.”

“You’re also a dog,” I said with a laugh.

“Woof.”

We got out of the car laughing and made our way up to the entrance. A bald, heavy-set man in a dark suit with slate gray skin stood at the front and I briefly wondered if we were in the right place, but Rainbow flagged him down before we were even halfway there.

“Hey, Backstage!” Rainbow called out. “How’s it going big man?”

Backstage gave Rainbow a wide grin as she stepped up to him and knocked her knuckles against his.

“Damn good, Dash,” Backstage replied, his voice a deep, basso growl. “This your friend?” He gestured to me, and Rainbow nodded. “Lookin’ good Miss Shimmer, Rainbow talks about you a lot.”

I blushed and ran my hands down my jeans. I was dressed modestly in my favorite two-tone white and black shirt with my divided-sun mark on the front. It was cut low and showed off a nice amount of my collar which I always thought looked nice. Over it all was my black leather jacket, the one that Rarity had made for me as a graduation present. It was gorgeous and still like new even after a few years of wear.

“Hopefully she only tells you the good stuff,” I said with a grin, holding a hand out.

“Aw y’know, the usual barfly stuff,” Backstage boomed, taking my hand. “Talkin’ ya up, reminiscing ‘bout your old adventures, gettin’ hammered and ugly-crying ‘bout how she never treated ya good enough.”

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!” Rainbow slapped her hands frantically over Backstage’s mouth, blushing furiously while I laughed.

“You two are good to go on in,” Backstage said with a deep chuckle, thumbing towards the entrance. “Remember the rules; no slurs, no fights, and hands off the dancers.”

“We’re all here for a good time, Stage,” Rainbow said, grinning. “Thanks for getting us in my man.”

“Thanks for gettin’ me those season tickets,” Backstage shot back. “My wife and I love college football.”

“Oh I know,” Rainbow replied as she grabbed my hand and pulled me along past him. “A little Pinkie told me.”

“Shoulda known,” Backstage grumbled good-naturedly, “damned if I can figure how she knew, though.”

Rainbow Dash and I both shared a knowing grin. “It’s Pinkie Pie,” we said in unison.

Canterlot, being one of the largest cities on the continent next to Detrot and Fillydelphia, has its share of gentlemen’s clubs, although only a certain few of them deserved the title. The North End, as it was known regionally, was widely considered to be the ‘wealthy’ part of Canterlot and so had the best of the best on its streets.

Among those locales, The Last Note was largely considered to be the best. Enough to expect a fifty dollar cover charge which Rainbow’s favor had let the both of us duck past as we slipped through the crystal-glass double doors. The instant the pair of us were in the building we were surrounded by the rhythmic beat of music, a remixed track of one of the latest pop-punk singles that was flooding the radio waves.

The light was a little dim, just enough to be relaxing, and the music wasn’t so loud that it was obnoxious.

At least, not until you got to the dancing platforms and by that point nobody cared about how loud the music was.

“Wow,” I muttered as I blatantly stared up at a pair of gracefully gyrating women.

They were bare-chested and beautiful, with perfect hourglass figures. Their generous hips down to their thighs were covered by provocatively swaying veils of colored fabric. If one stared hard enough it was clear there was nothing beneath the veils, either.

“No way those are real,” Rainbow said evenly.

I swallowed a little dryly. “Oh they’re real alright.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “How would you know?”

“I haven’t gotten laid in months, Dash,” I said grimly, “so I’ve spent an alarming amount of my down time looking at internet boobs.”

“Huh… fair enough,” Rainbow replied with a shrug. “How ‘bout that one?”

I followed Dash’s finger to another, shorter girl who was executing a relatively impressive acrobatic routine on a pole near the center of the room.

“Definitely real,” I confirmed, “see how they swing and sway, but hang a little when she’s right-side up?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s how you know,” I said with a smirk. “Even good fakes are a little too perky, a little too firm, and a little too… solid.” I surveyed the rest of the dancers with a growing grin. “Pretty sure all the girls in here are the real deal, they all pass the ‘real ones go squish’ test.”

“Ugh,” Dash groaned and stared at me. “Tell me you didn’t seriously devise a scientific theory on how to check a boobs… what’s the word for realness?”

“Veracity,” I replied a touch defensively, “and Twilight helped!”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Specs or Princess?”

“Both,” I mumbled.

“NER~DS,” Rainbow crowed before slapping me on the back as I blushed furiously. “Anyways, I’m gonna go ogle some dude-butts on the other end of the lounge. I’ll be in the softboi section if you need me.”

“No one's safe when you’re around, huh?” I said with a laugh. “I’ll stick to the ladies, thanks.”

“Sweet, meet up in an hour?” Dash asked, already backpedaling away.

“Sure thing, Dash,” I yelled, waving as I made my way towards a bank of dancing platforms with comfortable-looking easy chairs in front of them.

This was more my style; watching in comfort and relaxation as beautiful women swung their hips for my enjoyment. A part of me wondered if, back in my good old bad days, I would have installed a place like this once I had taken over the world.

“Probably,” I answered myself with a smirk.

“Here ya go, Sunny,” a light voice chirped next to me. “On the house.”

A drink was set down on the table next to me, and I smiled.

“Ooh, piece-a candy,” I said delightedly as I picked it up and took a sip.

I had barely gotten the first mouthful as I turned to the person who had brought it to me, which made me spit it out in a spray that splattered the floor beside her.

“SONATA DUSK?!”

“Ssh,” Sonata chided me with a frown. “You’re gonna bug the dancers if you’re screaming all the time.”

The youngest Siren sister had her arctic blue hair in her usual neat ponytail and was dressed in a sharp black vest buttoned to just under her deceptively impressive bust that covered a crisp white blouse. Clean black slacks hugged her hips and legs in a manner that I would have found fetching if I weren’t busy gibbering incoherently as I stared down at my drink and wondered idly if it had been poisoned.

“It’s safe,” Sonata said, answering my silent question. “Like I said, it’s on the house. All of your drinks are so long as you promise not to try and make trouble for us.”

I eyed Sonata carefully. “You’re bribing me? Why? What are you three doing here?”

Sonata sighed, then nodded for me to follow her as she walked back the way she’d come. I looked after her, a little uncertain, but decided I wasn’t willing to let the blue-haired Siren out of my sight, so I followed.

Sonata made her way through the crowd to the bar and slid comfortably behind it where she started dutifully cleaning glasses with a soft cloth in a manner that suggested years of habit and practice.

“We’re not doing anything wrong,” Sonata said after a moment, “but as soon as you walked in we knew we would have to convince you of it because you’d never trust us off the bat.”

I grimaced. “I’m willing to believe you three have turned over a new leaf, actually. I just find it kinda suss that you opened with a blatant bribe.”

Sonata rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Ye~ah, blame ‘Dagi for that one, it was her idea. Bribery and blackmail are her default settings.”

“Okay, that I believe,” I admitted before taking another sip of her drink. “And wow, Sonata, you make a killer G&T.”

“It’s my specialty!” Sonata chirped happily.

“Alright so… three Sirens lose their magic rocks and flee CHS years ago,” I counted off as I nursed my drink, “only to open a classy strip joint and take up bartending?”

Sonata frowned. “It’s a lounge and club, excu~se you. And what’s wrong with that anyway? Girls gotta eat.”

“Eat?” I raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

“Just because you broke our heartstones doesn’t change the fact that we eat emotional energy,” Sonata said a little brusquely while sticking out her tongue. “It just means we can’t use our magic anymore. Besides, we’re stuck here now… we figured this was a good middle ground.”

“So you all just… work here now?” I asked, trying to dial back my suspicion.

Whatever I had originally thought of them, I found myself genuinely believing that they were just trying to make a life now. After all these years they’d had plenty of time to make trouble and, as far as I knew, they never had which was worth some grace in my book at least.

Besides, I had gotten a second chance, right? Didn’t the Sirens deserve one too?

“Yupperino!” Sonata said happily. “Adagio runs the ship and sings at the main lounge stage on Wednesdays and Fridays, and as you can see: I tend the bar!”

“I assume Aria does security?” I asked with a smirk.

I could definitely see Aria doing bouncer work.

“Nope!” Sonata answered cheerily, “now c’mon, we made sure to reserve you a center front row seat.”

“Uh… thanks?” I said in confusion as I was pulled along in Sonata’s wake. “Front row seat to what, exactly?”

Rather than answer, Sonata continued to tow me through groups of people, slowly making her way towards the central section of the lounge where an imposing door loomed flanked by an even more imposing woman with a dark orchid complexion in a suit with a shorn scalp save for her high red mohawk. I had noticed the area earlier but ignored it because it was roped off with its own set of separate security; clearly marking it out as the VIP section of the establishment.

“Hey Temp!” Sonata said cheerily as she approached, her arm locked with mine. “Got a VIP by order of The Lady.”

The guard stared down at me with sharp piercing eyes the color of ice, and I froze like a rabbit under the gaze of an alpha wolf.

“Sunset Shimmer, meet our head of security,” Sonata said, gesturing to the Amazonian woman.

“Tempest Shadow,” she said in a thick Marexican accent, “ibuenas, welcome.”

I felt my mouth go dry as I stared up at the gorgeous and very muscular woman and I worked my jaw to get a greeting past my increasingly uncontrollable blush.

“Sit on me.”

“Cómo?” Tempest raised an eyebrow.

“U~h, n-nothing,” I stammered, “p-pleased to meet you.”

Tempest nodded sharply before stepping to the side and moving the thick rope along with herself, permitting us into the area.

“Thanks Temp!” Sonata sang as she trotted past, pulling my still-dumbfounded ass behind her.

“Of course, Miss Dusk,” Tempest replied, nodding and closing the rope behind us. “Enjoy the show, Miss Shimmer.”

“I already am,” I mumbled as we passed Tempest, my eyes lingering for a moment before turning my gaze to Sonata. “I would willingly die under that ass.”

“Right?” Sonata said with a massive grin. “Tempest is dumb thicc. We tried to get her to dance but she gets really embarrassed.”

“I would kill a man to see that beast of a woman blush,” I said, laughing.

“It. Is. Adorable,” Sonata confirmed with mock severity.

Laughter bubbled up from both of us as we moved through the short hallway, and I found myself truly enjoying Sonata’s company as we approached the muted hubbub of activity ahead. The younger Siren was surprisingly fun to be around and had a certain joie de vivre that was infectious; as if everything was lighter and more amusing around her.

“Hey, Sonata?” I said as they approached a set of double-doors.

“Hm?” Sonata looked over at me curiously.

“Let’s be friends, okay?”

For the first time that evening Sonata looked genuinely wrong-footed as she stared with her jaw hanging slightly open.

“W-why?” Sonata asked finally, her voice far more subdued than before.

I raised an eyebrow and smiled crookedly. “Because I’m having fun talking to you?” I said with a small laugh. “And I’d really like to keep doing it if that’s, y’know, cool with you. I think I’d like hanging out with you is all.”

“Really?” Sonata asked quietly. “You don’t think I’m… I’m annoying?”

“One of my best friends is on a permanent sugar high,” I deadpanned, “and I would die for her, so no, Sonata, I don’t think you’re annoying.”

For a few moments we both stood silently outside the doors to the main VIP lounge. It was long enough that I started to become a little concerned.

“Sonata?”

“Call me ‘Nata,” Sonata said suddenly. “I… I don’t have very many friends; basically just my sisters, a couple of the dancers who can put up with me, and Tempest of course, and they all call me ‘Nata.”

“Not ‘Miss Dusk’?” I joked, elbowing Sonata lightly in the ribs.

“That’s just Tempest being a stickler,” Sonata said with a grin, “she’s really laid back once she’s off the clock and has a couple of shots of tequila in her.”

I licked my lips. “I wouldn’t mind doing a couple of shots of tequila off her.”

“You are thirsty, huh?” Sonata jabbed, and I rolled my eyes.

“I’ve been on like an eight-month dry spell here, alright?” I groaned, “and now I’m suddenly surrounded by a regiment of incredibly hot women.”

“Aren’t like, all of your friends gorgeous women?” Sonata asked with a chuckle.

“Don’t remind me,” I grumbled before raising a hand and counting off: “Rarity and AJ are attached at the hip, Pinkie is way too high energy for me, Rainbow and I crashed and burned, I love Fluttershy to death but she is a freak in the sack and it honestly kinda weirds me out, and the only thing Twilight gets hot under the collar for are quantum differentials,” I sighed as I waved a hand, “which I totally support! But it doesn’t help the fact that nobody has calculated my derivatives in nearly a year.”

“Wow, talk about whiffing,” Sonata said, patting me gently on the shoulder. “Let’s get you in there though, show’s about to start!”

“What is this ‘show’ you keep talking about?!” I asked as Sonata pushed me through the door. “Also, about what you said to Tempest: who is ‘The Lady’ exactly? Adagio?”

Rather than answer her question, Sonata pushed me through the small crowd to one of the front row seats in the center column.

“Uh, occupado,” I said with a doleful grin as I realized all of the front seats were taken. “I can sit somewhere else.”

Sonata scowled and walked past me towards the guy sitting in the center chair.

“Sir, this seat was reserved,” she said evenly.

The guy turned, his complexion was powder blue with fair blonde hair, and annoyance writ across his face.

“And?” He snapped. “I paid good money to get in here, and all the other good seats were taken.”

“Then you should have come earlier,” Sonata replied through gritted teeth. “Now move.”

“Shove off,” he replied before turning back to the stage.

“Hey, ‘Nata, it’s fine,” I said quietly. “I can just-”

Sonata cut through the rest of my words by swiveling on her heel, putting her fingers to her lips, and letting off two sharp whistles.

The guy barely had time to look up before Tempest was sweeping past us with a distressing level of stealth for someone so huge.

“Temp,” Sonata said with an ugly scowl as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder towards the guy in the hair, “yeet this freak.”

“Hey wai-!”

“As you say, Miss Dusk,” Tempest replied sharply.

Before the guy could reply Tempest had a grip around his throat and was dragging him bodily out of the seat towards the exit. All he could do was flail uselessly and gurgle as I watched him be ejected from the VIP section and, presumably, the Last Note itself.

“Ugh, I hate those guys,” Sonata grumbled with her hands planted crossly on her hips. “Entitled pricks.”

I snorted and laughed at that. “Has customer service gotten any better over the past centuries?”

“N~ope,” Sonata replied with a dry smirk. “Now, take a seat and I’ll let ‘Dagi know we’re good to go! Enjoy the show!”

“Uh, sure,” I said, still a little uncertain but not willing to disobey as Sonata pranced off behind the curtains.

Especially not after that display.

Settling into the chair, I let out a quiet sigh. It was a really comfortable chair, and it was practically a double-wide. Two people could easily fit on any of the few center chairs, though I wasn’t entirely sure why. I wasn’t complaining though, as it gave me plenty of room to lean back and relax.

A few moments later the lights dimmed further until most of the room was shrouded in low light. The curtains rose to reveal an ornate catwalk stage with a gleaming silver pole in the center, answering my question as to what kind of show it was.

Most telling, though, was the figure at the head of the stage.

Adagio Dazzle, leader of the Sirens, lead singer of the Dazzlings, and my own one-time nemesis, lifted a thin, filigreed microphone to her perfectly full lips.

“Good evening, all you lovelies.”

I shivered.

As an age-old songstress, Adagio had always had a powerful voice, perfectly tuned to whatever it was she was doing, but the one she used tonight could’ve melted glaciers.

“I’m not that desperate, I’m not that desperate, I’m not that desperate,” I changed quietly to myself. “I am never booty-calling Adagio Dazzle-level out of options, even if she does have an ass like unf.”

If only my libido was buying that line.

Adagio was in spectacular form, wearing a long curve-hugging violet evening gown that hung from her neck, leaving her graceful shoulders bare and exposing just enough of her prodigious bust that what was left to the imagination kept everyone looking and her whole gorgeous body was framed by the most meticulously lovely poof of blazing orange hair. She looked older than when we had first met at the Battle of the Bands, but then so had Sonata, thinking back. It was more subtle with the youngest Siren sister, though, and Adagio did not do subtlety when it came to her appearance.

“Okay Sunset, distractions…” I muttered to myself. “Calculate pi, count primes, imagine dudes, anything but-”

“We have a very special guest joining us for tonight’s show,” Adagio continued, her voice smoky and sultry as she paced the stage like a predatory cat. “Someone to whom I, personally, owe a great deal…”

“Adagio Dazzle don’t you dare,” I hissed under my breath as my eyes went wide.

“Ladies and gentlemen, assuming any of you fit the bill,” she jabbed lightly, earning a smattering of laughter of the crowd as she approached the end of the stage to where she was nearly in front of me, “please join me in welcoming my old friend, Sunset Shimmer.”

The light that had been illuminating the stage and focusing on Adagio suddenly shifted to its focus to me, where I was sitting ramrod straight in my chair looking, and feeling, anything but comfortable. Adagio descended from the stage like a Greek Goddess from her lofty perch to hold out a hand for me to take, which I did because to do otherwise would make me look like a degenerate troll.

“Smile and wave, dear,” Adagio whispered as she pulled me close.

“Adagio, I will end you,” I snarled around the grin I was plastering over my face while I waved to the crowd of people staring at me.

Adagio smile turned shark-like. “I'm just protecting my sisters and my home, Shimmer.”

Before I could respond, Adagio lifted the microphone back to her lips.

“I’ve known Sunset since high school, my lovelies,” she continued, “and I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have any of this, or you, if not for her.”

I was actually a little impressed at how true that was and how grossly it misrepresented the actual events. Of course, the idea that Adagio wasn’t capable of twisting words into whatever contorted shapes she needed them to be in was laughable. I, myself, was quite capable of it after years of practice as Queen B of CHS, and Adagio was infinitely more practiced.

“So,” I said through the corner of my mouth as I kept a smile plastered on my face while the smiling group of people in the room applauded riotously. “You’re the ‘Lady’ who made me this offer I couldn’t refuse?”

Adagio chuckled as she lowered the microphone from her mouth, smiling affably to the rest of the crowd. “Oh Nodens, no,” she replied sotto voce, catching me off guard, “I’m a lady, Shimmy darling, I’m not The Lady.”

“Then who-”

“At any rate!” Adagio exclaimed, the microphone back at her lips as she grinned at the crowd. “You didn’t come here to listen to ramble about the old times,” with a surprisingly effective flick of her wrist, Adagio toppled me back into my chair as she turned around, and I stared directly upward to keep from staring at Adagio’s generous… assets… as she walked back to the stage, “you came here to pay homage to the real star of the house!”

I lowered my gaze and raised an eyebrow. Adagio was referring to someone other than herself as the star? That seemed completely out of sorts from the borderline megalomaniacal Siren that had nearly drained an entire school of its magic, and sanity, in a single night.

The lights dimmed as Adagio ascended to the stage and stepped to the side, and a soft rustling sound from above clued me in that the curtains were about to rise.

“May I present, for your viewing pleasure,” Adagio said in a husky voice, “LADY BLAZE!”

The music began and, if I’m being honest with myself, I had genuinely expected some remixed nightcore version of an REO Speedwagon song. Instead, I got a drum intro leading into a lively electric guitar as the curtain raised, revealing the familiar, and unfamiliar, form of the last Siren sister.

Aria Blaze.

I all but retreated back into the chair as I stared. Of all people to claim the stage as a stripper, the belligerent Aria Blaze had probably been somewhere near the bottom of the list near Maud Pie.

But holy shit did she claim it.

Where Sonata had a sort of youthful, svelte cuteness to her that seemed to transcend whatever age she looked, and Adagio had the full, seductive figure that pleasantly haunted the dreams of men and women alike, Aria was on a completely different spectrum.

Lithe, athletic, and toned; the middle sister of the Sirens was a vision of long, lovely legs, slender arms, and graceful shoulders, with a waterfall of purple hair shot with streaks of brilliant aquamarine that caught the light and tumbled down her slender neck.

Every inch of her was shown off by her outfit, too, if one was generous enough to call it that but given where I was sitting, namely in the heart of a glorified strip club, I figured certain allowances had to be made.

There were no cherry-red platform heels, sequined thongs, or any of the other gauche offenses to fashion that would have had Rarity in conniptions. Aria was letting her gorgeous body do all the talking for her and it had a lot to say.

Aria had a lime-green ball cap, spotted with band badges, pins, and safety pins pulled low, and a thin, sleeveless, black denim jacket, equally pinned and badged, cut off in a fashionably ragged punk manner at her midriff over her bright teal top which was cut even higher, showing just a hint of the lower half of her breasts, which I hated to admit were my ideal size; just slightly more than a handful. Her entire lower half was bare except of a simple purple thong, showing off what Aria probably considered, and which I wholeheartedly agreed, to be her best assets: her legs.

Delicate loops of thin gold dangled from her wrists and ankles, and she was barefoot as she slowly sauntered down the stage with a smoky smile on her face and her eyes fixed on me while the opening of the song trailed into a low, male voice, and all I could think as Aria got closer was:

‘Oh no… I like this song.’

And then Aria began to dance.

Her cap came off first, whipped off and sent sailing off the stage to land cock-eyed onto my head in a single flick of her wrist. The bill hung low and slightly obscured my shocked expression, and I had just enough time to consider how much practice Aria probably had at that move before she began swaying to the music, and at the word ‘Low’, her body dropped in smooth liquid motions. She moved perfectly to the strike of every beat, and more and more I realised just what it was I had forgotten about her.

Aria was a Siren. Music was in her blood and it showed. In moments she was on the floor of the stage and the way she writhed, legs spreading and closing, back arching, and the way what little clothing she still wore tightened around her made it feel as if she were speaking directly to me without using words or even sounds.

Her twisting body, shining faintly with sweat and a faint scent of perfume said: ‘I know you’re watching me, Sunset’ and the smile on Aria’s face, and the look she was giving, just reinforced it the message. Her body and her eyes said: ‘I know you’re watching, and I know you won’t stop… I know you want me.’

I bit my lip as Aria slowly rose and suddenly her jacket was off. That, too, landed with me, in my lap this time, and I felt my mouth dry up a little at the way Aria’s whole body just shone on the stage under the faint aqua and crimson lightning.

Then she touched the dance pole.

“Oh shit,” I muttered as I watched Aria’s whole body casually flex and lift, one-handed and one-armed, into the air.

Aria was suddenly upside down as her balletic legs curled around the pole near the top. The crowd hooted and crowed, but I could only stare in silent shock as I watched Aria coolly defy gravity while she rhythmically swung, spiraling down the pole with her whole frame rolling with the beat and melody of the song.

She was halfway down the pole when her top came off, and I couldn’t properly account for when it had happened. All I knew was that I was watching Aria exquisitely writhe her way down the pole, spinning slowly around and around, and then suddenly I got a face full of warm, and very distinctively scented crop-top tossed at my head which impacted with a dull fwumpf.

I swallowed thickly as pulled the top off of my face, still staring as Aria finished her descent, achingly slowly, until her upper body was draped across the stage, her legs still fetchingly locked around the pole showing off the definition and muscle of her lower half, while her hair billowed out around her like the gloaming light of dusk spilling over the ocean from the horizon. Aria sprawled enticingly; legs up, arms out, and her back arched like a spent lover on rumpled silk sheets as she stared out at me, and I made a mental note to start putting money away for silk sheets.

Swallowing hard, again, my brain had a traitorous thought:

‘Aria probably has silk sheets,’ I shuddered at the image. ‘I wonder if she’d let me use them.’

The song trailed off and the spell was broken as the lights dimmed, dousing the stage in darkness. Suddenly having my mind back in place, I let out a slow, shaky breath, and realised, vacantly, that Aria’s hat was still on my head. I went to move but my arms protested loudly; I was so tensed up that I’d been gripping the arms of the easy chair until my knuckles had gone white, and a distinctive warmth between my legs told me that I was definitely in need of some female company at some point soon.

Or at least a new pair of underwear.

“W-well that wasn’t so bad,” I said quietly to myself as I began the laborious process of prying my fingers off of the armrests of the chair.

Then the lights began to come on again, very slowly, and smoky guitar chords began to play accompanied by a different male voice singing in a low, seductive voice, leading to another thought, this one neatly mirroring the one I’d had at the beginning of Aria’s first performance.

‘Oh no… I goddamn love this song.’

My eyes widened as the stage took on a dull, rosy luminance, revealing the mostly-naked Aria curled up in an almost sleepy manner on the stage with her flawless back towards me and stirring in tune with the vocals. Slowly, languidly, Aria rose and turned her head to glance over her shoulder in a way that made my breath catch hard in my throat as bright, violet eyes meet my own aqua ones.

Then Aria winked as a bewitching smile traced over her cupids-bow lips, and my mouth went entirely dry.

“Oh no,” I whispered.

Rolling and turning on the stage, Aria prowled across the stage on hands and knees, her long, elegant fingers placing themselves slowly and purposefully with every motion as she pulled herself closer and closer to the edge until she was flowing down, cat-like, to the ground where she continued to stalk on all fours straight towards me.

“I don’t think this is who Rainbow had in mind when she suggested I get a lap dance,” I whimpered under my breath.

Aria lifted herself achingly slowly onto the chair, her hands settling on my thighs to give herself leverage, and making me shiver almost violently at the touch, as I was suddenly quite certain I knew why the chair was roughly sized for two people as Aria began straddling me.

‘Written’s Quill,’ I swore mentally, ‘she smells so good.’

Aria interlocked her fingers and stretched, hands over her head, showing off every inch of her body as her supple, toned form shone under the gentle red lights. I licked my lips as I stared at the pale, perfect fuchsia complexion, and the faint droplets of sweat that clung to her from her exertions.

“Like what you see?” Aria whispered, finally speaking in a soft, nearly inaudible voice as she reached out and ran her hands through my hair, gently kneading and pulling before letting go.

But not before a small moan escaped my lips, making Aria’s faint smile grow.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked breathlessly as the song continued and Aria rhythmically ground her enticing hips against my lap.

Aria’s smile was seductive and predatory in equal measure as she answered.

“Because seeing you like this,” Aria said in a throaty voice, “seeing Sunset Shimmer staring at me, wanting me, and aching to touch me?” A rich chuckle bubbled out of her as she seizing a hank of my hair, earning another soft moan as she pulled me forward, burying my face against her chest. “This is more satisfying than sex.”

I barely heard Aria’s gloating voice, my nostrils flaring and suddenly clouded with Eau de Beautiful Woman, coincidentally my favorite fragrance.

Then I was pushed away, my back pressed against the back of the chair with both of Aria’s hands against my shoulders as the Siren leaned forward. I felt Aria bury her face against my neck, and I shuddered as I felt a faint brush of lips against my bare flesh.

“Tell me you want me,” Aria whispered.

“Oh, come on.” I groaned.

Then I felt the feather-soft touch of a warm, wet tongue trace its tip against the side of my neck, right over my jugular, and a much louder, far more embarrassing noise left my lips.

“Say it,” Aria encouraged, and I could hear the shit-eating grin on her face as she moved to the other side of my neck. “Say it or I stop.”

‘Shit, you could get out of this right now… just say nothing… just… just…’ I thought silently. ‘All you have to do is… is just…’

I let the words tumble, low-pitched and reticent, from my lips.

“I want you, Aria.”

The instant the final word left my lips Aria tensed almost violently, and I felt a shiver rippled through Aria’s slender frame. Before I could say anything or ask if Aria was alright, the Siren had practically lunged forward and fixed her mouth over the lobe of my ear, her sharp canines catching the softest parts between them.

I let out a stifled, rattling cry, as I gripped the armrests of the chair so hard that I swore I was about to tear the arms clean off.

‘Holy shit, is this a lap dance or foreplay?’ I thought, my face blazing red as Aria pulled away and stared down into my eyes.

There was an utterly indescribable look of something very similar to hunger in the light of Aria’s violet eyes. Her eyebrows were up, and her beautiful eyes wide, and I had the stray realisation that Aria wasn’t wearing any makeup.

She really was just this perfect.

“Again,” Aria demanded in a hushed voice.

One of Aria’s hands moved to my neck, then up to my chin, gently pushing my head up as Aria pulled my jacket and shirt aside to lower her mouth to my bare clavicle, and I shuddered again.

‘How does she know right where to go for?’ I thought with a tiny whimper as I felt that warm, velvety tongue against my skin again.

“I w-want you, Aria,” I whispered again.

There was that tense-and-shiver again as Aria scraped her teeth against my skin, and I bit my lip to keep from crying out.

In the distance, the song trailed to an end and Aria pulled away, staring down in that inscrutable manner at what must have been my violently blushing face.

“Stay,” Aria commanded before getting up from the chair.

That wasn’t a particularly hard command to follow given that I did not trust my legs to hold me up right now. Instead, I pulled out my phone and shot a text to Rainbow letting her know that I was kind of… busy, but safe, and might not make our meetup.

Rainbow Dash’s response was, predictably, ‘WOO GO GET SOME’.

Sighing, I glanced up from my phone to see Aria and Adagio speaking in hushed tones. Adagio looked… strained, for lack of a better term, and Aria looked entirely immoveable on whatever it was she was arguing for.

The people were beginning to file out, talking animatedly, and I could understand why. The performance had been relatively short but extremely memorable. Aria’s stage presence was commanding, and her movement was...

I swallowed dryly.

Very, very nice.

“Fine, do what you will!”

I heard Adagio snap and turn on her heel, stalking away from her younger sister, and I blinked in confusion as Aria grinned like a cat who’d caught a mouse under its paw and was considering how exactly to play with it. Of course, it was only as Aria started to turn and regard me again with those sharp, fever-bright eyes of hers, that I remembered that I was the mouse.

Aria stalked back over, her body swaying with its natural charm, and I marveled at her ability to maintain an air of almost regal dignity whilst wearing less fabric than a cloth handkerchief.

“You’re staying,” Aria said firmly.

I raised an eyebrow, “I… uh… y-you told me to stay, so-”

“That’s not what I meant,” Aria replied with a small smile as she moved forward and leaned down, her hands covering mine on the arms of the chair as she leaned down until our noses were almost touching.

“The night,” she said simply.

“H-Huh?”

“You’re staying the night,” Aria clarified, her grin almost carnivorous. “With me.”

I swallowed again.

“I am?” I squeaked.

Aria nodded, “unless you don’t want to, that is,” she said as she stood up and stretched again, letting me get another good, long look. “I can’t force you after all… so I’ll just go into the back there,” Aria pointed out a small door to the side of the stage, “where my room is, the second on the left down the stairs,” she turned back and grinned again at me, “and you can follow me back if you want to.”

“W-” I felt my throat close up as my eyes roved up and down Aria’s enchantingly limber body, and I took a deep breath to steady myself. “Why?”

Aria leaned in again until her lips were an inch from my ear, and her tongue darted out to lick along the edge of it earning another squeak from me before Aria finally answered.

“Because the only thing better than knowing you want me,” Aria explained in a husky voice, “would be having you under me.”

She nipped at my ear before pulling away and turning, swinging her hips with an exaggerated sashay as she moved to the door and through it, shooting a single, confident glance back at me before vanishing and leaving the door open invitingly.

“You don’t have to go through that door, Sunset,” I muttered to myself. “You can get up, go outside, go home, change your panties, and then… fuck… I dunno, rub one out and go to bed lonely again.”

I closed my eyes in annoyance, then stood up, only belatedly realising I was still holding the bundle of Aria’s clothes, and that her hat was still perched on my head, albeit shakily.

“Well… I can’t just… take her clothes,” I said quietly. “And I’m… I’m not going to just throw them on the floor… that’d be rude. I should return them.”

I looked up at the door and let out a slow, shuddering breath.

“Y-yeah, I’ll… return them, and then…” I felt another fiery blush cover my face. “Ooh… s~hit,” I swore as I started towards the door. “There is gonna be a special place in Tartarus for me after tonight.”

I shut the door behind me.

2. Coincidence

Author's Note

AriaSet sexytimes inc.
you have been warned

2. Coincidence

Past the door leading out and away from the stage, there was a short hall that split off a few meters in, laying out in three separate directions. I saw the stairs that Aria had mentioned straight away and started trotting towards them with what I am entirely aware was an indecent level of haste, but come on:

Eight months.

EIGHT MONTHS.

Cut me some slack, okay? I really just wanted to get laid and if I’m being completely honest Aria Blaze was kind of perfect: physically speaking, anyway.

I sighed as I clutched her clothes to my chest and tried really hard not to lean down a sniff at them a little. I’m not that bad off yet but I’m pretty close. Aria was just so, so pretty, and, as crass as this sounds, pretty girls tend to smell as good as they look and the whiff I got earlier did not put a lie to that. Plus, she's not just pretty, she’s…

Ugh.

Look, Rainbow might not discriminate in her tastes but, to a certain extent, I do; I like ladies, alright? A lot. I like thick girls and petite girls, tall girls and short girls, muscular girls and soft girls.

I. LIKE. GIRLS.

I’m really friggin’ gay is what I’m saying here. Ladies are soft and good and everything about them gives me butterflies. I love how they always smell nice, and how they’re always softer than dudes, and the way their voices sound, and all of that. As a general rule, if you show me a girl then I am down to go down is where I’m going here.

And yes, I might also be a teensy bit thirsty at the moment, thanks for asking.

My point, if I had one, was this: I like girls of all stripes, but everyone’s got a preference, right? In Equestria it was pegasus mares for me, nothing beats being wrapped up in a pair of those soft wings while you’re cuddled up with a pretty mare. But here on Earth? As a human? You want to know what really revs my engine?

Fit girls: Lean, toned, and leggy.

There was a really good reason that I was always willing to go to Rainbow’s track meets and soccer games back in high school and it wasn’t because I relished getting up at fuck’o’clock in the morning to sit in creaky metal stadium stands in the cold and damp to watch while the team from El Bumfuck Nowhere High got their asses beat like drums by my best friend and her sportsball harem.

Personality-wise I want passion, or maybe specifically I need it, it's what drew Rainbow and I together and ultimately what tore us apart, but it was more just the passion exacerbating our mutual competitive natures combined with my jealousy and her general disregard for everything.

Specifically, I want the kind of passion that’ll knock me over, pin me to the bed, and pull my hair a little.

Let's review: I like pretty, bossy, and fit, and since Aria’s got a Grand Slam in each one of those categories, yeah, I was entirely planning on following Aria into her room and going downtown on a Siren because it has been eight months since I’ve been laid and she is so goddamn pretty.

I stopped outside her door and sighed, grimacing as I briefly considered one more time what, or rather who, it was I was planning on doing.

This was Aria Blaze: the middle sister of the Sirens who my friends and I risked everything to defeat some years back. And yes, according to Sonata they were mostly just normal people trying to get by in the world now, and yes, they’d been on good behaviour as far as I knew, but…

How exactly was I going to explain this to the girls? To Rainbow?

Oh who am I kidding, Rainbow Dash would probably just high five me for landing a stripper and then take me to a bar to celebrate. For better or worse she was among the least discriminatory of our friends when it came to giving people second chances, and easily the crassest when it came to getting laid, although in fairness between her and Cloudkicker they had probably banged the majority of the eighteen-to-twenty-four demographic of Canterlot, whereas I was standing outside Aria goddamn Blaze’s bedroom waffling over the matter, so maybe they knew something I didn’t.

I blew out a breath and reached for the doorknob, turning it with a muted click and pushing the door open to step inside.

Aria’s room was surprisingly simple: while not voluminously large, it was still probably still the size of an average living room. There was soft carpeting a shade of dark blue, and the floor was 'fresh hotel-room' clean. I had half-expected shag carpeting but I’ll admit that was largely my own prejudice at work.

At the far end of the room against the middle of the wall was a queen-size bed with dark purple and blue sheets and a thick, warm-looking comforter, and to the left of the bed a flat-screen t.v. with a custom speaker setup was hooked to the wall above a messy dresser covered in various energy drinks and snack wrappers along with every gaming console known to mankind. I felt a small smile trace over my lips at that… Aria and I might actually have something in common other than sexual compatibility. To the right was a large vanity, a body length mirror, and another door that I presumed led to the bathroom, and as I entered and pushed the door shut with the heel of my foot, I realised what it was that I didn’t see.

What I did not see was Aria Blaze.

I felt a pair of incredibly soft hands slither up past my jacket and under my shirt from behind me to cup my breasts, and my knees immediately knocked together as I went weak. Aria pressed into my back and I could hear the satisfied smirk on her face as she leaned up next to my ear.

“Look what I~ fou~nd,” she sang out in a gloating tone, squeezing gently and kneading as I leaned back against her.

Aria's clothing toppled out of my arms into a pile as I started breathing hard, and I felt her mouth press against my neck, licking and biting gently every inch or two, and I could hear her sniffing softly, taking in my scent in a manner that I found strangely sexy. Regardless, I let myself sink into her touch as I appreciated just how good she was at what she was doing to me.

Written’s Quill, it had been too damn long since someone else had touched me.

“Aria~,” the word slipped softly from lips.

There it was again, just like during the performance. Her body tensed and stiffened, and she shivered, and I let out a small eep of shock as Aria fixed her teeth onto my neck, the sudden shift in gears from slow and sensual to aggressive caught me off guard in a good way.

Before I could say anything, though, she pulled away, and I’m not too proud to admit I might have let out disappointed little noise when her hands and lips left me before she gripped my shoulders and spun me around in place.

At that moment I realised that I had not properly appreciated something about Aria Blaze beyond the fact that she was still fantastically naked, her purple thong notwithstanding. Which was that she was surprisingly short.

I mean, I’m not great shakes in the height department either, I’d sprouted a bit at the end of High School and ended up being about five-six and loose change which I knew was in the average for ladies on this side of the mirror, but Aria was like… five and two, and that was being generous. It had been hard to tell before because she’d been on a raised stage first, and then she’d been, well… mounting me… and at that point I’d had far more important things to pay attention to than our relative heights. Namely the lovely pair of tits I’d had smooshed into my face, and the long, toned legs that had been straddling my lap.

Vaguely, I recalled a study done by the CCU psych department on how shorter people are statistically angrier and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. I was not blowing my shot with Aria because I couldn’t keep a lid on my giggle-fit.

Aria glared up at me and for a moment I felt my heart flutter. Another thing I’d never really appreciated was, angry or not, Aria had the most beautiful pair of gem-tone amethyst eyes. The way they fairly glittered with wit and anger actually kind of made her sexier.

“Rules,” Aria snapped in an even voice.

“H-Huh?” The soul of wit, that's me, so I tried again. “Uh, rules?”

Nailed it.

“Yeah, rules,” Aria confirmed. “My rules and you follow them to the letter, Shimmer, or we’re done here and now, capische?”

“Uh, sure, yeah,” I nodded, off-put by the suddenly business-like tone she was taking. “Rules are good with me, boundaries are totally fine.”

Actually, it was kind of refreshing to have them just tossed at me like this. Knowing what was good in bed and what wasn’t made things a lot less awkward for me at least, this was good.

“Rule one: no kissing,” Aria said, holding up a finger.

I take it back. Not good.

“A~w, what?!” I sagged a little at that.

Look, sex is great and all but have you ever just kissed a girl before? That’s like, one of my top five favorite things to do. Sexy-times is fantastic, and I’m down for it, but it’s not something you can do just anywhere, y’know? But you can always find a secluded corner or empty classroom to drag each other into to make out like high school freshmen, and that’s entirely up my alley.

Also, Aria has just… the nicest lips. Like a perfect cupid’s bow with that adorable curve at the top. I’d been really looking forward to that.

“Complain again and I toss you out on your ass,” Aria said sharply.

“Fine,” I replied a little sullenly, “just lips are off-limits or-?”

Aria rolled her eyes, “just the lips.”

I nodded. Okay, so this wasn’t ideal but I was willing to make a few sacrifices since I’d left my Dignity at the door and posted my Reservations nearby to keep an eye on it, and besides, maybe it was some kind of trigger thing, right? Who was I to judge?

“Rule two: I’m on top,” Aria raised another finger, and I gave her two thumbs up and a deadpan stare on that one.

To my surprise, Aria snorted and laughed at my response, and my heart did a weird jump in my chest that seemed to land it square in my stomach at the sound because wow, that was really cute. For a moment all I could think was that I wanted to hear that laugh again really badly.

Aria’s face immediately schooled back to a sort of angry neutral, and she put up another finger. “Third rule: we finish on this.”

Holding up her other hand, I cocked my head as I tried to figure out what I was looked at. It was a lot of belts and straps and a long purple- OH.

“Uh… I, uh… don’t have a lot of experience with strap-ons,” I admitted sheepishly, and Aria rolled her eyes again.

“Dealbreaker?” Aria asked, “you can still walk away.”

Bullshit I can walk away, I’m so keyed up by this point that I’m practically vibrating.

“N-no, just…” I fidgeted for a moment before settling on what I felt was a good compromise since I highly doubted I would be the one wearing it. “Can… can I be, y’know, on my back looking up at you? Rather than hands and knees? I’m pretty exclusively on the ladies side so it’ll be a lot nicer view for me, at least.”

Aria mouth twisted up a little but she eventually she nodded. “Yeah, fine.”

“So uh… how do we-” I began but before I got any further, Aria had tossed the strap-on, harness and all, to the side of the bed and closed the distance between us.

Practiced fingers peeled me out of my jacket in an instant, and it was tossed rumpled to the floor on the pile of her own clothes that I had dropped. Aria pressed her body to mine, leveraging her lesser weight against me and in my surprise I couldn’t resist her advance. I was pushed back on heels, backpedaling with her hands against my shoulders until the backs of my knees knocked against the edge of her bed and I toppled over onto my back.

Aria followed me down.

She crawled over me and I shivered as she unceremoniously pulled my shirt up until it was bunched over my breasts, and she began gently kissing and licking at my midriff while her fingers played idly at my waist and sides.

I writhed underneath her as she kissed and nipped, and my daze of fuzzy warm endorphins was only broken when I felt a slight tug at my waist and legs.

Blinking in surprise, I propped myself up on my elbows and glanced down around Aria.

“Where the hell are my pants?” The words fell out of my mouth as I stared down at my panties and bare legs past where Aria was straddling me.

Aria grinned back at me as she lifted my jeans in her left hand, belt and all, from behind her almost triumphantly before dropping them off the edge of the bed. I hadn’t even felt her go for them. Damn, she was good.

“I’ve got skills, Shimmer,” Aria said smokily, “and I’m gonna hit you with every single one of’em.”

I swallowed hard as she traced her fingers from my bottom of my breastbone down my stomach to my panty-line… then a little further down, ripping a ragged gasp from my throat as she pressed her finger down slightly.

“Ooh, someone enjoyed my performance,” Aria cooed, her pretty lips curling up in a teasing smile. “Or maybe I’m just that good, hm?”

I was shaking badly as she stood up and I hate to admit what might have been another mewling noise left my lips as her touch was suddenly gone. I glanced around, a little desperate to see where she had gone. Aria had picked up a remote control from a nightstand and smirked as she lifted it up and hit a pair of buttons. One of them dimmed the lights in the room to a warm, honey-black glow, and the other turned on the tv showing off a pulsating display of lights to a strong electronic beat that filled the air, followed by a light, pleasant, rhythmic tenor male voice singing.

Her body moved to the beat of the music and I felt my heart catch in my throat as I backed up further onto the bed. She crawled after and let me tell you, it takes a certain kind of presence to maintain the image of being in charge when you’re both several inches shorter than the other person and on your hands and knees, but Aria managed it without breaking stride.

She was halfway up my body when she leaned down, got a grip on my panties with her teeth, and smiled up at me as she pulled them off, angling her head up and taking my legs with her, only for them to slip back to the bed as she freed the, admittedly stained, article and tossed it with a jerk of her head.

On a whim, I followed their arc with my eyes.

They landed right on the pile with the rest of our clothes. How did she do that?

Have you ever been naked from the waist down in someone else’s presence? Is it just me or do you feel more naked then than when you’re actually completely naked? I suspect that was the point, as Aria slipped up my body, past my achingly aroused core, past my bare midriff, until we were eye to eye. She traced her fingers up my bare arms until our hands met, then curled her fingers between mine and pinned me to the bed.

She must’ve heard my sharp intake of breath because she smiled wider.

Written’s Quill, I wanted to kiss her so badly. I want to but I didn’t, she said no so that’s not a line I’ll cross. But damn she’s so, so beautiful. Her lips curve up just right, especially when she smirks, and that little bow at the top is so enticing. I want to know what her lips taste like, I want to feel her tongue tangled with mine, I just want to kiss her damn it.

“You’re going to scream my name tonight, Shimmer,” Aria whispered, pressing her lips up against my ear, and I believed her.

She fixed her teeth gently onto my neck, biting just hard enough to make me moan and just softly enough that a tiny part of me wanted her to bite harder. But that was on purpose, she wanted to leave me wanting more and more.

Her left hand rose, freeing one arm for a moment and I used that moment to wrap that arm around her and tangle it into her long, luxurious two-tone hair as I arched up and bit her neck right back, running my tongue over the red mark I left as she hissed in pleasure. I didn't even bother stifling my moan as I felt her hand slip past my waist to my cunt and bury two fingers deep inside and then press the pad of her thumb over my clit.

I cried out in relief, the feeling I had craved was there, the feeling of force and affection, of someone else tending to my desperate needs.

My legs tensed and curled around her, trying to drag the source of that pleasure closer as I dragged my teeth down her warm, flushed skin. I gripped the hand pinning mine to the bed hard and scraped my fingers down her neck and back, probably leaving marks but, at that point, I don’t think either of us had enough presence of mind to care.

I felt her grip my hand back and she pulled me up into her arms until I was sitting up. Our arms tangled as I pulled my shirt the rest of the way off, while she practically tore my bra off, unclasping it and flinging it away (to land with everything else, natch). I kissed, nipped, and sucked at every inch of her perfect body I could reach with my mouth; neck and earlobes, shoulders and clavicle, every single inch of her was delicious.

At no point did her hand stop working at me, and I only made it a few more gasping seconds before I curled around the smaller woman and came to a shuddering orgasm. Rather than satisfy all it did was leave me hungrier, though, and I rocked my hips against her fingers harder.

I heard a felid growl emerge from somewhere in the back of her throat, as she arched up and fixed her jaw onto her my shoulder. I hissed and dragged my fingers down her back before reaching down and slipping my hands into her panties, feeling for my prize.

Her hand that had been gripping mine let go and snatched at my wrist, and I let out a plaintive whine as she pulled away with fiery eyes and a devilish smirk.

“Patience, Shimmer,” Aria said in a throaty voice. Her husky contralto sent a shiver up my spine as she increased the tempo of her own fingers and brought her lips tantalizing close to mine. “Cum for me…”

I let out another whine, and shuddered as I did exactly as she instructed, and for the first time I heard her let out her own sound of mewling pleasure and she leaned forward to run her tongue up from the tops of my breasts to my throat.

“You’re beautiful, Shimmer,” Aria whispered against my throat, and I shivered at the feeling of her breath crossing my bare skin. “And so… so much more… you taste perfect.”

“I… taste?” I muttered before my eyes flew wide as I remembered what Sonata had said.

“Just because you broke our heartstones doesn’t change the fact that we eat emotional energy.”

I pulled away from her with a start, staring down at Aria who looked up at me in confusion with a raised eyebrow.

“A-are you feeding on me?” I stammered.

Aria cocked her head to the side. “Uh, yeah? Doi… why else would I have invited you back here?”

A felt a cold, stony weight settle into my gut followed by a surge of shame and anger.

“You… you…” my breath was coming in struggling heaves as I pulled further away from her, covering myself as I did. “How… how could you-”

Aria’s eyes widened a little, and for a moment I saw a flash of something like pain.

“It’s not like that!” Aria snapped. “We have to eat, remember?”

“I trusted you!” I shouted angrily, tears of anger and guilt building up. “I… we were having s-”

“Sex! Yeah, we were fucking, Shimmer,” Aria growled. “We weren’t making sweet love or anything, shit, what’s your problem!”

“My problem,” I snarled, “is that I’m not a partner in this I’m a fuckin’ entrée, Aria!”

There it was again. That shiver… the tension suddenly gripping her body, and then Aria reached out and grabbed at my arm as I started to tried to back up further.

“W-wait!” Aria’s voice rippled with something that actually sounded like… sorrow.

Or pain.

“S-Shimmer, wait,” Aria repeated, her voice softer. “I… I didn’t think…”

“What?!” I said angrily, and I hated that tears were starting to build up at the corners of my eyes. “You didn’t think that maybe I wouldn’t like getting my soul sucked out?!”

“It’s not that way,” Aria said, and she actually sounded like she meant it. “Not anymore, we’re… we’re like extreme empaths, I guess. Your lust… it’s like a meal but so much more.” My face twisted at that but she kept talking, her voice becoming more desperate. “I… I didn’t mean it like that! You’re more than a meal, I know! But… you’re taste is so intense and so- it doesn’t hurt you, or take anything away from you, okay?”

I swallowed hard. The Sirens were consummate actresses, but I wasn’t sure that even Aria could fake what I was hearing in her voice. She genuinely sounded like she was sorry.

“W-What does it do then?” I asked after a few seconds. “To me, I mean.”

“Nothing,” Aria said quietly. “It’s more like I share in it… that’s all.” Her grip became more gentle and she gave a small tug, silently asking me to come closer. “I won’t hurt you.”

I took a few deep breaths. I’d already taken such a risk, being with Aria like this, letting her so close knowing she was dangerous but…

Tentatively, I scooted closer. Aria leaned in and pressed her lips to my neck, gently kissing along my collarbone and up my throat. Her slender fingers traced lines, soft and insistent, up my chest, stopping teasingly at the sensitive peaks. Then she wrapped her arms around me and held me, never moving more than a few inches at a time until her lips brushed that place on the edge of my ear that she somehow knew that I loved.

“Let me make you feel good,” Aria whispered, and there was almost a hint of pleading to her voice. “I want you to feel good… please let me, I promise I'll never hurt you.”

I hated that I could feel myself giving in. I wanted to throw her offer back her face, even if it meant gathering up my clothes and making the worst walk of shame in history out of the lounge. I wanted to look her in eye and accuse her of using me, but… let's be honest, I knew what I was in for in that respect, at least.

Either way, I didn't, and it wasn't just because I was horny as hell. Aria just sounded so… earnest.

I let her slowly guide me down until I was laying on my back, and she kissed softly down my chest, across my breasts, to my stomach, and then lower. I could feel myself relaxing under her touch, and I wanted so badly for her to be telling the truth.

Maybe because, in part, I just wanted her so badly.

I let out a sharp, pleasure-fueled cry as I felt Aria’s tongue slide between the folds of my lower lips. Her talented mouth was finding all of the little spots that made my mind go blank. I glanced down and was rewarded with the intoxicating sight of her head buried between my legs, her attention focused completely on me, that cascade of purple hair bobbing gently as she licked and sucked at me.

My breaths started getting short, filled with small moans and pleas for more.

“Keep going, please…” I gasped, my hand softly gripping the top of her head and kneading at her hair. “More… I need more, Aria.”

And she gave it to me.

Either she had been holding back or my words had keyed her up even more, because suddenly she was diving in harder, lapping at me like she was starving for my taste, and I cried out as my third orgasm of the night slammed into me. My legs locked around her head, but she didn’t seem to care, for all I could tell around the blinding sensory overload I was wading through, Aria was as desperate as I was to continue.

Then it was past and I slackened, going limp on the bed, sweat trickling down my body as I fought to get my breath back. Looking down my body, I saw something that I swear will stay burned into my mind forever. Aria lifted her head slowly, her mouth and chin dripping with my cum, and eyes burning with lust as she panted.

Without taking her eyes off of me, she flailed for something off the edge of the bed, and finally pulled up the harness of the strap-on she showed me earlier.

Even through the almost unearthly glow of her eyes, I could see her question.

She wasn’t going to keep going if I didn’t want her to. I could tell she wanted to, and badly, and from somewhere deep inside I wanted her to as well.

Not just because I wanted to get off. It had nothing- alright, almost nothing to do with my dry spell.

No, I wanted it because I wanted her. I couldn’t explain it, but I wanted her to take me. To push me down and fuck me like an animal and specifically I wanted it to be her.

So I nodded, a small, purposefully submissive motion as I met her eyes. This time it was my turn to shiver as I heard the growl in the back of her throat.

Swift, practiced hands had her panties off and the harness belted on. The toy that was attached to it was double-ended too, and I watched her shiver in delight as it slid into her, and then she was on top of me; pinning me down and growling at my neck, licking and kissing up and down my throat as she ground her hips, and the toy, against my soaking nethers.

“Aria~!”

Her name came out in a plaintive moan and I felt her whole body stiffen, and a sharp intake of breath ripples through her.

Then she was inside me. The now well-lubricated tool hilting inside my dripping cunt in a single, smooth movement.

I let out a long, low, satisfied moan as I wrapped as much of myself around Aria as I could. My hands clawed at her back as my legs locked around her waist. She rose over me, thrusting her hips as she rode me, and I loved every moment of it.

It took only seconds for me to hit my next orgasm, and I tightened my grip around her. To my faint surprise, Aria held me just as closely, burying her face against my neck as her name stuttered past my lips.

“Ah, Ah, Aria~!”

A snarl ripped from her throat and she began thrusting faster, her face still buried in my hair, her teeth nipping at my ear and neck.

Then I heard her hiss out words past her gasping breaths.

“Again,” Aria’s voice was ragged with effort and pleasure, “say my name again.”

Like she could stop me.

I rolled my hips, hilting myself this time and let her name flow from my lips like a song.

“ARIA!”

She pulled away from my neck, never ceasing her thrusts as she stared down into my lust-clouded eyes. Her eyes were glinting shards of amethyst flame, and they fixed me with their razor light.

“Again!” She snarled.

I obeyed, let her name spill from me in a long moan.

Then her own lips sealed hard and fast over mine. I didn’t have time to be surprised that she had, for whatever reason, broken her own rule. I didn’t have time to be shocked at the passion and fury that she dominated my lips and tongue with. All I could feel was a near agonizing burn of satisfaction as all of my pent up needs seemed to snap free and uncoil at once.

I kissed Aria Blaze with all the fire her surname demanded, and she gave me the same. Once the first kiss had shattered whatever barrier Aria had been keeping up in her own mind they began coming hard and fast, rapid kisses ending with gently bitten lips. Hard, breathless kisses that left the both of us panting as much from the thick purple toy that was thrusting into the both of us as from our lips.

Finally, Aria pulled back, both of our faces flushed and blushing, threw her head back, and let out a long, tuneless note like a cry of song as she went crashing into her own orgasm, and as I rode my own out with her.

As I stared up at her, I thought I saw something I couldn’t put a name too. A light that had sunk into the air around her.

Something distant and beautiful.

Then the moment passed and she collapsed against me, both of us breathing hard.

“W-What happened…” I began before swallowing and licking my lips to wet my mouth again after all that panting, “to the first rule?”

Aria rolled off of me, the toy sliding free and pulling a moan out of me along with it.

“F-fuck you, Shimmer,” Aria groaned from beside me, glaring at me as she did, and I flinched.

I had been about to say something smart but there was something very close to genuine anger in Aria’s eyes.

No… not anger. Fear. Shame, anger, and fear.

I swallowed hard, remembering her words from earlier. Aria was right, we had both gone into this knowing it was essentially a one night stand. We weren’t ‘making love’ we were just having sex, like she’d said.

Incredible, mind-blowing sex, sure, but… that’s all it was, right?

Sighing, and feeling a little of the afterglow fading away, I sat up and swung my legs over the other side the bed, away from Aria and began scanning around for my clothes.

Most of them were in the same pile with Aria’s but I had tossed my own shirt away and didn’t have nearly her impeccable aim, apparently, because it was nowhere to be seen.

Shakily, I began standing on rubbery legs, rubbing at my naked arms as the air chilled the sweat, among other things, I was covered in.

“Stop.”

I blinked in confusion, then turned to see Aria glaring sullenly and pointedly at me.

“But I thought-” I began, only to be cut off.

“Get back here,” Aria said in a voice that was hard, but clearly edged with exhaustion. “Now.”

Well, far be it from me to argue with Lady Blaze, herself. I did my best to keep the faint smile from my lips, I had the feeling that might get me kicked out of bed on principle, and slid back towards Aria, burrowing under the covers and sheets.

Aria had already ensconced herself into a comfortable position, and I quickly found my way next to her. I laid my head beside hers and this time I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face as I stared into her beautiful eyes.

“Closer,” Aria said, her voice adorably sleepy.

Normally I’m not one to take orders but it’s kind of hard to argue with a lady in her own bed. Especially when she’s telling you to do something you already want to do.

I inched closer until our bodies were curled up together, her slender, athletic legs weaving around mine, and I let my hands traces the contours of her incredibly gorgeous body.

Here and now, in the quiet, I had time to appreciate the work of art that was Aria Blaze. Her slim, muscular form was soft and hard in all the right places, and on a whim I leaned forward, closing the small distance between our faces and pressed my lips to that perfect Cupid’s bow.

She kissed me back, gently, and curled her fingers around my neck and through my hair, and I happily realised how right I had been: Aria’s lips were incredibly fun to kiss.

I was exhausted, comfortable, satisfied, and warm, with a beautiful woman in my arms and the smell of us in the air. This was, I think, as close to a perfect night as I could get, and I began to drift off to sleep immediately.

You know that moment between sleeping and waking, and vice versa, when you’re not quite sure if you’re dreaming or still awake? You hear words that aren’t said, see things that aren’t there, all because your brain is basically in ‘dream-mode’?

That’s where I was when I heard it, or thought I heard it anyway. Aria’s voice, low, almost inaudibly so, hissing out a single word.

“Mine.”

3. Happenstance

In my dream I’m surrounded by warmth and good smells. The scent of lavender and mint was faint in the air and my amber skin fairly tingled with sensation. I felt something trace tickling echoes of pleasure over my skin, and a voice whispered my name from a great distance away.

The voice was familiar and beautiful, and it sang the syllables of my name like a hymnal stanza.

Warmth crept up my belly and down my legs from my core and I writhed as pleasure drowned out the small, distant sensations. My legs curled and uncurled as I let out a piteous moan.

My world shuddered around me, and the sensation became indescribably intense, and after a moment my eyes fluttered open.

Above me was the blue-and-purple ceiling of Aria’s room where I had fallen asleep the night before, I vaguely recalled.

It took a moment for my brain to disengage from dreamtime and re-engage with the world, and that’s when the feedback from my body really kicked into high gear.

I let out a harsh gasp and my hands tightened into balled up fists, gripping the sheets harder as I came almost violently. My back arched and I cried out before sagging back to the bed. Blinking away my shock, I pulled the blanket and sheets away from my legs and looked down to find Aria Blaze between them, her tongue buried in my dripping snatch and her eyes staring unfocused with lust.

“N-not that I m-mind waking up like this, but-” I’d barely managed half the sentence before Aria’s eyes snapped up to me and she was suddenly in my face, our lips pressed firmly together.

“Mmph!?” Was all I managed as she tangled herself up with me, and after a moment I forced myself to pull away. “Okay, hold up! Hold up!”

I gasped for air as I tried to wrangle my still-sleepy brain to attention and get the last two responsible brain cells I had left after last night up and awake along with me.

“I’m not feeling patient, Shimmer,” Aria growled, leaning in to trail her tongue up my neck. “I want more of you… and I don’t want to wait.”

I shivered and groaned softly as her tongue touched places that were still sensitive from last night. From the way it felt I almost certainly had more than a few hickeys and love bites. That aside, I was also still a little iffy on the whole: ‘eating my emotions’ thing, but for whatever it was worth Aria had seemed to be telling the truth. I didn’t feel woozy or weak, I wasn’t staggering around like a zombie, and I didn’t feel like bowing and scraping before her as my supreme master.

I mean, not like that anyway. I’m not exactly opposed to getting on my knees for her under the right circumstances.

“Written’s Quill, Aria, are you always this hungry in the mornings,” I groaned, stretching my arms and back to the tune of a few cracks. “We can a-ah-eeeee!”

My words morphed into squeaks as Aria took advantage of me exposing my body with my stretch to dive in and fix her mouth over one of my breasts. Her fingers gripped my waist and scraped up and down my sides, and I reflexively curled in, wrapping my arms around her as she suckled and nipped gently.

“Mmm… Aria~,” I moaned softly, and she shivered again before pulling away and staring up at me.

Aria leaned in and pressed her lips to mine, more tenderly this time, but I could still taste that fire and hunger from before. I considered pushing back again but, personally, I was all out of protests for the day when it came to stopping beautiful women from kissing me.

That particular type of protest had a very low amount to begin with though, in my defense.

We parted reluctantly, I could feel her struggling not to just keep pushing forward. To keep kissing me, but I wanted something else if I were being honest.

This time I was the one who set my hands on Aria’s shoulders and gently guided her down to lay back on the bed. I felt a faint resistance, but it only lasted a second as I met her eyes, and I saw the flash of belligerence there that pushed back.

Then she relaxed, laid back, and I lowered myself to kiss down her beautiful body, paying special attention to the defined curves of her muscles, and especially her legs as I passed her waist.

I hooked my hand under the curve of her right knee, lifting it up so I could brush my lips over that smooth, flawless skin.

I wasn’t joking when said I loved Aria’s legs.

They were just as perfect to touch as they were to look at; smooth and soft, but firm and strong. I raised my gaze to meet Aria’s gem-tone eyes as I kissed up from her ankle to her inner thigh, and relished the small moans of appreciation I was getting out of her.

But this was the appetizer, and my eyes fixed with laser precision on the main course as I lifted my mouth from her thigh.

I pressed my lips to her dripping cunt and ran my tongue up the slit.

It was actually… kind of cute; small and expertly shaved, and slightly swollen with arousal. Although with that said, I had the distinct impression that if I ever dared to voice that thought out loud I would get punched in the mouth.

I hummed in delight at her flavor which, aside from the usual taste, was vaguely sweet which surprised me. Maybe it’s just my impression of her but I always figured that, between the three sisters, she’d be the bitter one.

“So you are sweet somewhere,” I shot Aria a teasing smile from between her legs.

I saw a flash of embarrassment cross her face and her eyes widened with anger, but before she could speak I dove in, sliding my tongue between her folds and turning whatever it was she was about to say into a long, drawn-out moan. As for me, my attention became solely focused on what I’d been after all last night. It didn’t seem fair that I was the only one who got, ahem, serviced, and besides… Aria currently had those gorgeous legs of hers locked around my head and, frankly, that was exactly where I wanted them at that moment.

Her slender hips bucked and rolled against my face as I slid my tongue in and out, my hands fixed firmly on her thighs as I felt her squirm with every motion. I let her body tell me where she wanted me, each sensitive spot earning another twist and writhe as Aria gasped out her pleasure.

It might have been a while for me, but I was still damn good. I’m Sunset goddamn Shimmer and I am the best there is at what I do.

And who.

Honestly? I’d have been happy staying right where I was for the next hour or so, but all good things and all that, right? Aria’s graceful back arched and she let out a cry as liquid splashed across my mouth and chin, still distantly sweet, and I lapped up every drop I could.

Somewhere in the back of my mind it occurred to me how strange this was; even Rainbow and I hadn’t been like this and our entire relationship, toxic though it may have become, was defined by passion. Yet whatever this was with Aria was so much more intense, and a small part of me was terrified that it would end the same way: with shouting and fighting and bitter, hard words.

I pulled away as Aria’s legs went slack around me, her knees draped neatly over my shoulders as I licked my lips.

It wouldn’t end that way, because it couldn’t, right? There was nothing to end, after all. Aria and I weren’t dating, hell we probably weren’t even friends although, honestly, I wouldn’t mind it. I had a feeling we’d get along.

We were both breathing hard, both sweaty and flushed as I crawled up over her and curled around her. Aria cupped my cheeks in a manner I would dare to call warm and caring, as if she were afraid she would hurt me if she gripped too hard, and pulled me into a soft kiss.

For someone who had an entire rule that was literally: no kissing, Aria sure was bad at keeping to it.

“Aria?” Her name came out of my mouth as a question, and she raised an eyebrow as she met my gaze. “What’s… what’s going on here? Seriously, because… I’m getting some really mixed signals.”

Aria scowled, which somehow made her prettier. It’s like she had a face that was made for frowning which is really weird to think about.

“We fucked and that’s it,” Aria answered a little stiffly, but somehow her words didn’t seem to reach her eyes. “That’s all that’s going on here, Shimmer.”

“Yeah, I’m not buying that,” I said, taking a risk and pressing what I knew was Aria’s very thin patience. “You said: no kissing, and then you kissed me. You kissed me, and… I didn’t question it last night but were you just, like… screwing with me with that rule of yours? Just teasing? Or what?” Aria opened her mouth, but no answer came out, so I kept going. “And then there’s what happened after!”

“Nothing happened after,” Aria said, her mouth twisting up a little. “We slept!”

“Exactly!” I leaned in a little closer, taking a breath of her scent.

Lavender and mint, it was such a paradoxically calming scent to belong to such a belligerent person.

“Maybe I’m wrong but I get the distinct impression you don’t actually sleep with the people you ‘sleep with’,” I said pointedly after a moment, and the widening of her eyes and the flush of her cheeks practically screamed that I had hit the nail on the head.

It was actually sort of adorable how bad her poker face was, given that she was supposedly some centuries–old temptress.

“That’s-” Aria started to snarl, but she was saved from having to respond by a sharp rapping at her bedroom door.

Aria’s eyes flew wide and she pulled away from me sharply, struggling to her feet which was a little clumsy given what we’d just been up to. Apparently not all the feeling had gotten back to her extremities because she’d barely made it off the bed before she toppled to the ground with a string syllabic curses.

“Aria what’s wrong?” I sat up, brushing my hair out of the way which was a glorious post-sex mess.

“You’re still here is what’s wrong!” Aria snapped as she clambered to her feet and started snatching up my clothes. “You’re not supposed to still be here!”

“Why?” I asked, slinging my legs over the bed and getting up, intent on making my way over to the door since whoever was there was still knocking.

I imagined it was Adagio. There was something distinctly imperious about the way the knock sounded that made me certain it wasn’t Sonata, anyway. I had to think that if it were Sonata it might be a gentle tapping or, alternatively, she would have just barged into the room sans any knocking at all.

And if it were locked, face-planted into the door.

Aria saw me move and she made a sharp, wordless hiss of anger that stopped me in my tracks. I looked over and got a face full of my own clothes, all except-

“Get dressed!” Aria snapped, keeping her voice low. “And where the hell is your shirt?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I replied testily. “Are you going to tell me why I’m getting kicked out like last night's garbage?”

Aria let out a growl of frustration in response and she continued scouring the room for my last bit of clothing as I put on my bra, pulled on my panties, and started shimmying into my jeans.

“Fuck it!” Aria said angrily and dove for her dresser, pulling out a purple crop top and throwing it at me. “Just use this!”

I raised an eyebrow as I held it up. It was purple, like most of Aria’s clothes, and across the breasts it read in bold, sequined letters: ‘DIS BITCH (emotionally) EMPTY’.

“Classy,” I muttered before pulling it on and turning to Aria. “Next question: there’s no other way out of here, isn’t this moot?”

Aria didn’t answer me. She was over at the body-length wall mirror, grumbling as she fumbled at something at its base. She made a small sound of triumph as a soft clicking sound issued from it, and the mirror swung slowly open.

“You have a secret exit?” I asked dryly. “I’m probably going to regret asking this but: why?”

“We all do,” Aria replied as she shot me a withering glare. “In case you and your band of love-drunk pastel nut-jobs came for us, duh.”

I rolled my eyes as she rushed over to me.

“Aria wake the fuck up!” Adagio’s tense and angry voice called from the other side of the door. “I know you’re ignoring me.”

“Move, Shimmer, she has a master key and I’m actually kinda surprised she hasn’t used it yet,” Aria hissed as she pushed me towards the secret door. “But she won’t wait much longer so get out!”

“Oh c’mon,” I groaned as she pushed me into the cool stone passage, “I’m still… ugh… I smell like sex and bad decisions, can’t I take a quick shower?”

“NO!” Aria snapped before slamming the secret door shut on me.

I sighed, feeling a little like a dirty secret. I guess I technically was but that didn’t help matters.

She could have at least given me a kiss goodby-

The door clicked and snapped open again and Aria surged forward, seizing me by the collar of the shirt she’d loaned me, and pulled me in, pressing her soft, perfect lips to mine.

I smiled against the kiss, humming in delight as she aggressively claimed my mouth.

Then, without a word, she was gone and the door slammed shut once more, leaving me panting for breath and flushed. Aria was a conundrum, no doubt about it, and saying she was sending ‘mixed signals’ was a dire understatement.

But it was over now, as far as I knew. At the end of the day, or night I guess, it was still a one-night stand. A really good one, sure, but that’s all it was.

As I turned on my heel to walk down the cool passage, trying my best to use my fingers to tame the mess of tangles my red and gold hair had become, I had to wonder about that.

Aria Blaze, Lady Blaze, star of the Last Note Lounge, and Siren…

What the hell was I doing?

No, I decided, Aria had the right idea. A one night stand: mutually fun sex that was good for both of us, and that was all it was. No need to make it more complicated than it had to be, and no need to read into something that wasn’t there.

I was just overthinking things. What had happened had happened and it was fun, but it was over.

Right?

The computer lab at CCU was dimly lit, which made sense since only half the lights were on. It was close to nine at night and the lab was almost empty but for two students, myself being one of them, who were burning the midnight oil on projects.

I leaned back from the computer I was at, rubbing at my eyes which were starting to hurt from staring at the screen for hours on end.

My stomach gurgled, reminding me that I hadn’t had dinner yet either.

“You heading out soon?”

I looked up and shot a grin at Flash Sentry, who was standing up from his own desk.

He wasn’t majoring in the computer sciences like Twilight and I but he still took a couple of the classes to satisfy some of his grad requirements. He reasoned that it wasn’t any worse than any of the other courses he could’ve taken and that, at the very least, he and I could hang out and if he started falling behind I could give him a hand.

He was right, too, on both accounts, and I did help him. Flash was always a fast learner, though, and I knew him well enough to know how to teach him something. We’d been friends, or at least known one another, for almost a decade by this point so I should hope that would be the case anyway.

“Nah,” I replied with a tired smile, “I’m still running simulations on my model, I can get a few dozen more in before I call it a night.”

“Have you eaten?” Flash asked wryly, raising an eyebrow, and I gave him an uneasy sort of smirk.

“Ehhhh, not as such,” I answered, and he rolled his eyes.

“C’mon, Sunset, this isn’t healthy,” Flash admonished me. It was friendly but I could hear the genuine concern behind his voice. “A girl's gotta eat.”

I felt my stomach drop at his words. Something about them tickled my memory.

Aria.

It had been a week, precisely, since the night at the lounge, and I hadn’t heard from her. Not that I had made any attempt to contact her myself.

It was a one night stand, I reminded myself, and nothing else. I wasn’t her girlfriend and she wasn’t mine.

“Sunset?” Flash’s voice called me out of my mental wanderings and I looked up.

I gave him what I hoped was a nonchalant grin. “Sorry, spaced out, I’ll get something from the machines in the hall, okay? Or failing that I'll get something delivered, I promise.”

Flash looked for a moment like he wanted to say something more, but then shook his head and nodded.

“Okay,” he said finally, before giving me the evil eye, “I’ll be checking, though, alright? Worse comes to worst just swing by our place, Ditzy always makes tons of food and our fridge is leftover central.”

“Sure thing,” I said, and I was honestly tempted.

Ditzy Doo was a phenomenal cook and if she’d been gay I would’ve snapped her up in a heartbeat on that alone.

But she and Flash had been dating since senior year, living together for the past three years, and just a few months ago the big dolt had actually worked up the courage to propose to her.

A tiny part of me was jealous, but I was absolutely happy for her and Flash. They worked together so well. They were both patient, gentle creatures, and all you had to do was be in the room with them for a minute to see how much they loved each other.

A match made in Elysium, I guess.

I suppressed a sigh.

“Nice shirt, by the way,” Flash said with a grin.

I glanced down and grimaced. It was Aria’s crop top, although I had another shirt under it to make wearing it a little less.. hoeish. It still smelled like her, probably because I hadn’t washed it yet, and it occurred to me that I should probably return it at some point.

Maybe she and I could talk then.

“Thanks,” I replied with a smirk, “it’s a loaner, though. Anyways you should haul off, I’m sure Ditzy is waiting for you.”

“Yeah, I got a text from her a minute ago, actually,” Flash said, blushing as he smiled like a dope. “See you tomorrow?”

“Probably,” I said with a shrug. “Now go home to your wife.”

Flash’s blush deepened. “We’re not married yet.”

“You two have been married since senior year,” I said with a laugh. “You just didn’t know it. You remember the winter gala? When Trixie hit on you?”

“Uh, vaguely?” Flash replied with a shrug. “Why?”

“Because before then,” I answered with a smirk, “I had never seen Ditzy growl at someone.”

Flash blinked in surprise. “She didn’t… wait, did she?”

“Ditzy has had her flag planted firmly on your ass for years you dummy,” I said, leaning my chin on my fist. “Now shoo, go home.”

He chuckled and nodded. “Sure thing, stay safe, Shimmer.”

“You too, Sentry,” I shot back before turning back to my computer.

I had barely managed to start up the next cycle of simulations before I heard shouting from out in the hallways, and I furrowed my brow in concern. As I got up from my desk the shouting grew louder, and I heard the tail end of an angry female voice followed by the familiar tone of Flash capitulating.

I frowned, reflecting on how Ditzy and I really needed to teach that boy how to grow a spine one of these days.

Flash poked his head back into the lab sheepishly.

“Hey, uh, Sunset?” Flash began, a concerned look on his face.

“Y~es?” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“Did uh,” Flash coughed and cleared his throat, “did you like, piss off a stripper or something? Because there’s a chick out here rocking some strong ‘angry hoe’ energy, and she’s on the warpath for you.”

My mouth went dry, but before I could respond Flash was shoved roughly out of the way as a familiar shape shouldered past him.

She was wearing her punky lime green ball cap, pulled low to cover her face, and a top that amounted to a collection of fabric strings that creatively covered her breasts. Her jacket was the black denim one from her performance, badged up like before, and, thankfully, her lower half was now clad in what I supposed passed for a miniskirt if one had a generous definition of ‘skirt’ and a conservative definition of ‘belt’.

Aria Blaze glowered at me from under her cap, and I realised there were bags beneath her furious eyes, and she looked as if she hadn’t slept in a while.

Without looking away from me, she pointed at the door and said. “Out!”

“W-What?” I stammered, “I-”

“Not you, Shimmer,” Aria hissed. “Him.” She pointed at Flash. “Get. Out.”

Flash shot me a look that told me he desperately did not want to get in the middle of whatever this was but that he would if I needed him to.

Bless his heart.

“It’s okay,” I said, looking over at him and nodding. “I’m fine, go home Flash.”

“Uh, sure thing,” Flash said, looking relieved. “Seeya!”

“And lock the door behind you!” Aria snapped through gritted teeth.

There was a dull scrabbling as the door cracked open again, followed by the sound of a lock clicking as he fumbled for the inner latch, then Flash was gone. All the better, I supposed, I don’t know what I had done to piss Aria off but apparently I had and it was better not to catch Flash in the fallout.

“You were lucky he didn’t recognize you,” I said, looking back at her. “I know it’s been years but still…”

Aria didn’t respond.

She was breathing hard and fast, and her shoulders were hunched and tense with anger as she slowly raised a hand, gripped the bill of her cap, and ripped it off of her head to glare up at me with incandescent fury.

“What,” she began, “the FUCK, Shimmer!?”

I worked my jaw wordlessly in confusion. Aria was, by default, gorgeous, but even I had to admit she looked pretty rough if only be her standards. She was pale and her face had a pinched look to it like she was in pain. There was a slightly sallow and sunken look to her eyes that I hadn’t fully been able to appreciate with her face mostly covered by her cap.

“Aria? Are you okay?” I asked, suddenly worried. “You look-”

“-like I haven’t eaten in a week?!” Aria spat, her voice cracking with a hint of hysteria. “Funny how that works, isn’t it?”

“What?!” I felt like I was missing something crucial as Aria built up steam.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Aria said angrily. “I figured you’d lay low for a day or two but ghosting me? Are you trying to starve me?”

“I don’t… what?!” I was confused, but Aria didn’t give me any answers, nor any opportunity to ask for them.

Aria’s denim jacket hit the floor the same instant she hit me, her arms wrapping around me with desperate strength and her long, dancer’s legs locking around my waist as she latched onto me, her lips sealing against mine.

I kissed back as her scent was suddenly all around me. I wanted answers, yeah, but at the moment all I really wanted was Aria. Our tongues met and tangled, and we both moaned softly against one another. My arms were around her, although I can’t really account for when that had happened, and my hands were gripping her incredibly nice ass under her skirt, supporting her against me.

No seriously, I cannot stress hard enough how nice her ass was to get a grip on.

I shivered as I realised just how good this felt. How good she felt.

Aria’s hands snaked up my neck to tangle into my mane of red and gold as she kissed me with rabid desperation, as if she were starving and parched at the same time and I was her only source of sustenance.

We separated eventually, both of our faces flushed as I leaned my forehead against hers, the tips of our noses touching faintly, and I stared into her eyes, which were half-closed in a kind of dazed satisfaction.

They were mesmerising, and not in the magical sense. More like in the romantic, goopy sense that made me just want to keep looking until the world fell away.

Then I realised something else.

Aria was looking significantly better than she had been a moment ago.

“Aria?” I pulled away as I said her name, looking up and down her body.

She wasn’t pale or drawn anymore, and if anything she looked revitalized like she’d just had a full night's rest and a good meal.

A meal.

My eyes narrowed into a glare and I pushed her off of me. Aria stumbled, barely catching herself before glaring back up at me.

“Hey! What the hell, Shimmer?” Aria’s mouth twisted in an angry snarl. “What’s your problem?”

“My problem,” I snapped, meeting her angry glare with a furious one of my own that actually put her back a step, “is that I am not your fucking refrigerator! Nor am I your goddamn snack bar!”

Aria flinched and had the good grace to look ashamed.

“What’s the big deal?!” Aria shot back, rallying her glare and stepping up to me, “You want me, I want you, so what’s the problem here?!”

“I am not your takeout, is the problem!” I hissed angrily, pushing her away. “You treat me like fast food, not a person, and I don’t have to fucking take that!”

Aria looked like she was on a razor's edge, practically vibrating in place as her wide, amethyst eyes burned.

“Fast food?” Aria breathed the words in disbelief, chuckling in a low, hollow voice, “did you just compare yourself to fast food?”

Of all the things I’d expected her to latch onto that hadn’t been it, and I raised an eyebrow.

“Uh… I…” I began, but Aria closed the distance again and gripped me by the collar of the shirt.

“Imagine for a second,” Aria began, a weak, slightly mad cackle coloring her words, “that in your entire life all you’d ever eaten was various flavors of spam,” she practically spat the word out at me, and I could feel her shaking, “and had nothing but stagnant tap water to wash it down.”

“Uh, okay,” I said, nodding along with her. There was a feverish light in her eyes that had me caught in place. “That, uh, that sounds awful, but I guess I’m following you.”

“Now imagine that, one evening, you go down to the dinner table,” Aria continued, her voice taking on a shiver of delight, “and you expect, oh, maybe tonight a slightly more exotic flavor of spam… except when you get there, instead of spam, you find yourself faced with a fucking filet mignon and a glass of eighteen-eighty-six Syrah.”

I licked my lips, swallowing a little as I did, and nodded. “So I’m-”

“I can’t eat anymore, Shimmer!” Aria said the words like they were being dragged out of her as she shook me by my collar. “Not any of that… that garbage that my sisters eat! I just can't! I’m not just being dramatic about this, Red, when you didn’t come back after five days I was hungry enough to try and I almost threw it all up!”

I winced. “That sounds pretty bad.”

“You have no idea,” Aria hissed, dropping her grip on me and sagging like the weight of the world had just settled over her shoulders. “When a Siren gets… ugh, food poisoning, for lack of a better term, and ‘throw up’ we make psychic backwash, and it’s exactly as disgusting and toxic as it sounds.”

“Alright, fair enough, so what are you saying then?” I asked quietly. “You need me?”

I could practically hear Aria gritting her teeth, grinding them together as she glared furiously at the ground.

“Don’t ask me to beg, Shimmer,” Aria spat, never raising her head. “I’ll starve to death before I beg for anything from anyone, understand? Especially from you... I will never-”

I didn’t let her finish.

Grabbing Aria by what passed for the collar of her ‘shirt’, I jerked her up til she was standing to her full five foot and two.

Then she was in my arms, and I was kissing her. I felt her body tense like corded wire, then melt and relax against me as I ran my hands over her back, traveling over the firm curves of muscle on either side of her spine down to the small dimples lower down.

Aria moaned softly as her hands slid under my shirt, her fingers teasing and touching with a hungry ache I could practically feel.

“Lay back,” Aria whispered, her voice husky with desire as she pressed her lips to my collar and up my neck, “just relax…”

I sighed out my relief as she pushed me back a little until I was leaning heavily against the desk. Maybe I was just a meal to Aria, but if I was being honest with myself... was I treating her as anything more than that to me? Wasn't I just trying to satisfy my own libido here? How did that make me any different from her, really?

'I want you and you want me' Aria had said... and she was right.

I did want her. Might as well lean into it.

That was when I felt, and heard, her unzip my jeans and pull at them with practiced hands. The smooth denim slid down around my thighs, and I blinked in shock as I suddenly realized what was happening and looked down to lodge a protest.

Instead, I felt my breath lodge like a stone in my throat.

Aria was on her knees, nudging my panties aside with her nose, her tongue trailed out to tease me in the best possible way. I shivered and moaned as she pressed her lips to me and began licking and sucking with skill and care.

“Ah-Aria~,” I cried out softly, burying my hands in her hair. “C-c'mon... w-we can’t… not here.”

She dragged her tongue in a single long stroke up to my clit and then grinned up at me from between my legs.

“Why not?” Aria teased, before burying her face back into my folds.

“S-shit, Aria~, someone could come in!” I said breathlessly, my legs squirming around her as she tongued me relentlessly. “They could see-”

“Let them,” Aria replied, panting, “maybe they’ll learn something.”

The air was filled with the lewd sounds of what Aria was doing to me, and I didn’t have any more protests left in me. My legs shuddered and shivered, restricted by the jeans that were pulled halfway down them. My breath came out in stiff, ragged gasps as I gripped the edges of the deck helplessly, and Aria’s hands slid over my thighs and around to my ass, kneading and squeezing wherever they traveled.

“Oh fuck,” I spat, my whole body clenching up, “A-A-ARIA~!”

I drenched her mouth and chin, but Aria never moved away, never stopped her dedicated licking as my thighs clamped around her head and my fingers dug into her hair, trying to force the source of that deafening pleasure closer.

Then it passed like an ocean storm, and I sagged, my legs wobbled and before I knew it I was sliding down to the floor.

I didn’t make it there. Aria caught me in her arms which I vaguely noted were surprisingly strong for her size. Since I wasn’t busy holding myself up, I did have time to recognise what a hot mess I was.

My hair was matted down with sweat and my inner shirt clung to my skin. My jeans were still halfway down my legs, and my panties were skewed to the side where they’d been unceremoniously pushed out of the way.

And Aria was cradling me in her arms where she knelt.

That feeling was back, the same feeling I'd had when we’d been lying in bed that morning when I’d left the lounge... when we had been laying in bed together, curled up, and she had put her hands over my cheeks so delicately.

Aria was holding onto me like I was the most delicate, most precious thing in the world.

I glanced up, my eyes half-lidded with a sudden weariness, and I was abruptly made aware that I hadn’t eaten in almost eight hours by a loud gurgling from my stomach.

I flushed with embarrassment as I sat up using Aria’s surprisingly firm arms for leverage.

She let me, and her eyes followed me like two amethyst stars set into fields of clear white.

“You’re hungry,” Aria said simply.

I swallowed, wetting my throat and tongue again, and nodded.

“I uh, I may have missed dinner,” I admitted with a sheepish smile. “And I may or may not have had a large mocha frappuchino for lunch.”

Aria narrowed her eyes, then began to speak, but was interrupted by a faint clicking sound followed by a shocked and startled ‘EEP’.

We both glanced over to see Roseluck having stopped after stepping halfway into the lab, one outstretched hand holding the key to the door, and her eyes as wide as dinner plates staring at us.

“I’ll uh… I’ll just use lab two,” she stammered, and then vanished back into the hallway.

“Cool,” I muttered a little sullenly, “that’s gonna be all over campus by tomorrow.”

Aria didn’t say anything, she just held onto me and buried her face against my neck. She didn’t nip or bite, or anything else, she just… rested there, and I found I didn’t mind it in the slightest.

It felt… right.

Slowly, I felt Aria fix my pants situation until I was decent, and then help me to my feet. My head swam… Flash had been right, I really needed to eat something.

“I’m taking you back to your dorm,” Aria said pulling her hat back on and getting under my arm.

I leaned on her for support, a little more than I’m comfortable admitting actually. Memo to me: do not have sex on an empty stomach.

Despite my brain being mostly checked out, I had enough forethought to close down the sim I’d started and retrieve my things, shutting down the computer rather than leaving my student profile up.

Then we left, me leaning on Aria, and my nose filled with the scent of lavender and mint.

4. Enemy Action

Technically speaking I shared a dorm with Twilight Sparkle, the one of this world that is.

Other than Rainbow Dash, Twi’ was probably my best friend; back in high school we would spend hours talking about theoretical physics and metaphysics, and the ramifications of magic as an energy source, and lots of other things and I loved her to death. In point of fact, my asking her out was how I’d discovered she was ace, so I was one of the first to support her when she decided to bring it up, and we’d only gotten closer, emotionally speaking, after that.

It only made sense that, since we were pursuing the same major, we do our best to room together once we got into university. Twilight wasn’t the most social creature and she liked knowing that her roomie would be respectful of her boundaries. In return, I got to share living space with one of my favorite people, so I was happy enough to agree.

With that said, Twi’ rarely actually used the room we shared.

Her parent's house is less than a fifteen-minute drive from the campus and, frankly, the beds at CCU are not very comfortable. We used the place to hang out but, other than that, I mostly had the place to myself which worked out well for me now since I was currently bringing a stripper home after we’d finished having sex in the middle of computer lab one.

I staggered into the room, tired and dead on my feet as I hung my coat on the rack by the door joined moments later by Aria’s own denim jacket and hat, before tossing my keys into the bowl on the counter. Then I stumbled into the living room, slumped onto the cushy reclining chair in front of the t.v., and briefly considered dying.

From somewhere in the kitchen I heard Aria moving around. I’m not sure how much time passed but I know I dozed off somewhere in between falling over and then being nudged back to life by Aria’s hand.

“Hey, Shimmer, wake up,” Aria’s voice was stiff and annoyed, as usual, but I could hear something else just underneath the vitriol.

Worry.

I opened my eyes and looked over to see Aria kneeling next to me with a bowl of steaming soup in her hands.

“Eat,” Aria said quietly. “You look like death.”

I groaned.

I didn’t want to eat.

Or rather, I did but I just did not have the energy for it. I wanted to sleep, even if I knew I’d wake up miserable and starving in the morning.

“I’ll eat tomorrow,” I mumbled, waving a hand. “Thanks for getting me home, though.”

Aria scowled, made a clicking noise with her tongue, then stood up, kicked off her shoes, and settled herself into my lap.

“Mouth, open,” Aria ordered in an even-toned voice that, nevertheless, did not invite argument.

Fortunately, my mouth was already open in surprise. Before I had time to question the situation Aria had stuffed a spoonful of warm soup into my mouth.

“Eat,” Aria ordered again.

I stared down my nose at the handle of the spoon sticking out from between my lips, then back up at Aria, then nodded, chewed a little, and swallowed.

And that’s how it went: with Aria, curled up in my lap and her long, bare, beautiful legs tangled around mine, leaning against my shoulder as she fed me spoon after spoon of savory vegetable soup. Her waterfall of gorgeous two-tone hair fell in soft waves over my shoulders and her head was nestled in the crook of my neck as I rested my cheek warmly against her head.

The position was a little awkward but it was possibly the most comfortable I’d been in days.

Once the bowl was empty Aria set it aside on the squat wooden coffee table that sat a couple of feet away. I did feel a lot better with something in my stomach, I had to admit, but it just left me feeling that much sleepier.

Aria stood up, stretching a little to work out the kinks that her awkward sitting position had created, and glanced down at me.

“Which room is yours?” Aria asked, her tone still stiff and business-like, and completely at odds with how tenderly she was caring for me.

I pointed silently to the one at the far end of the short hall with my divided sun mark taped to it, and Aria grunted.

“Right, shoulda known.”

“I’ll sleep here though,” I said, stretching and yawning. “I’ve got blankets,” I gestured to the pile of comforters and downy covers on the couch beside us, “and this chair is more comfortable than my bed, honestly.”

I fished around for the game controller that served as a remote for the tv and console attached to it, turned it on, opened up webflix, and cycled through it as Aria watched with a raised eyebrow.

“Sorry, I gotta have something going or I can’t fall asleep,” I explained, answering her silent question. “I like old stuff for that,” I continued as I selected an old black-and-white, “something about the lo-fi quality of the sound makes me wanna doze off.”

“I know what you mean,” Aria said quietly, before nodding to the tv as the opening credits started, the volume low. “Bishop’s Wife? This is one of my favorites.”

I felt my cheeks warm.

“Mine too,” I said softly.

Then Aria turned on her heel and walked towards my room. I furrowed my brow as I watched her slip past the door nonchalantly and a moment later heard her fishing around in my dresser. I was about to voice a protest because, after all, we might not have much left to show each other but that’s still my stuff damn it, when she came back out with a pair of my pajamas bundled up in her arms.

“I’m fine,” I said with a small laugh, “this won’t be the first time I’ve fallen asleep in my jeans.”

She shushed me softly before kneeling in front of me and setting the clothes off to the side. I blinked in surprise as Aria began slowly and carefully disrobing me.

There was almost ritual care to her hands as she took off my boots, then slid my jeans and socks off. She did the same with my panties, which made me blush, but she never made a move on me. There was nothing sexual about what she was doing.

It was almost… loving.

She slid my pajama pants on, one leg at a time, then stood up and did the same for my shirts, unclasping my bra along with them, and then slipped the soft, cotton pajama shirt over my head.

Have you ever had a beautiful woman undress and then dress you?

I hadn’t either, until then.

There’s something indescribable about it. Something almost primal that stirred in my belly as she moved with her tender, precise, and borderline worshipful motions. I still felt sleepy, sure, but I also felt… not awake, but alive. I felt refreshed and ready to have the best sleep of my life.

Then Aria straightened, crossed her arms over herself to hook her fingers around her top, and pulled it off. Her skirt and panties went next in a neat pile with all of my clothes. Then she gathered up some blankets, shook them out straight, settled into my lap, and draped them over us.

Her arms curled around me protectively, and she nestled her head against my shoulder.

Well, I sure wasn’t going to kick her out after all that and she damn well knew it. So instead I reached down, grabbed the lever on the chair, and pulled it to recline back, and wrapped myself around Aria Blaze.

The sounds of voices from the distant past spilled over us, and music from that same age chimed like off-tune bells.

I buried my nose in Aria’s hair and just… breathed.

I don’t think I’ve ever, in my entire life, felt so relaxed.

So at peace.

The only thing marring that peace was the words that were stuck in the back of my throat.

Written’s Quill, I wanted to say them so badly. It hurt like a bitch, keeping them locked in my chest. It felt like they were fit to start burrowing out of my rib cage of their own accord.

I wanted to say them. Especially now, looking down at Aria like this; with her eyes closed and her long, full lashes laid gracefully over her high cheekbones and the flawless skin of her soft cheeks.

Unbidden, I felt tears start to fall. They were hot and painful, like some part of me had turned on the waterworks just to have some kind of expression of what was lodged in my chest, caking around my heart like wet concrete. I was seized by this insane urge to shake Aria awake and just kiss her over and over.

To say those words over and over.

Oh… this was bad. This was very bad.

Swallowing hard, I moved slowly and gently, wiping my cheeks on the blanket we were sharing, then took a deep breath before leaning in and resting my lips on hers.

I couldn’t say them but my mouth moved around the words anyway, giving them shape if not sound.

If I said those words then Aria would hear them, it would scare her off because it’s too soon and too fast and… and she would leave.

So I held tightly onto those words, clutching them against my heart as I kissed her, featherlight, one more time, tasting the faint flavor of her Cupid’s bow lips. I didn’t think I’d ever get enough of that.

And then I laid back, holding onto Aria like she was a lifeline in the ocean, and closed my eyes.

I woke up to the warm and what was rapidly becoming familiar sensation of Aria’s lips pressing against my neck, kissing softly and making my heart flutter.

A much more intense sensation below the waistband of my pajama pants was making my heart do a creative series of other things. At that point I recalled vaguely that, when Aria had been dressing me last night, she had pointedly not brought out a fresh pair of panties.

Aria had worked one hand up and around the back of my head, massaging my neck and tangling her fingers with my hair while the other hand was in my pants, two fingers working slowly in and out of my now-drenched cunt.

I let out a shuddering gasp and tightened my grip around her, and I felt Aria’s lips curve into a smile against my neck.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” Aria said in a husky voice before singing out, “good mo~rni~ng.”

Oh Quill, she has such a beautiful voice.

“A-are you always gonna wake me up like this?” I gasped out as she curled her fingers, brushing a particularly sensitive spot that pulled a small cry of pleasure out of me.

“So long as I wake up first,” Aria replied, a laugh hiding behind her lips as she continued to nuzzle my neck. “Think of it as an incentive to be an early riser.”

“F-fuck!” I twisted in the chair as I came over her fingers.

I have to admit, I do not mind waking up like this. After going nearly a year without the kind of feminine touch I wanted, getting some the moment I wake up is absolutely not something I’ll complain about.

Aria gave me a satisfied hum as she pumped her fingers a few more times before pulling them free.

Except she didn’t pull them out of my pants. Instead, she slid her fingers further down and I felt her reach somewhere else.

“Just relax,” Aria whispered seductively.

“A-Aria wai-!”

One finger slid in, which she was absolutely gentle about, and my back instantly arched as I let out a… ugh… there’s no other word for the sound I made.

I moaned like a porn star.

Silence descended on the room like a ten-ton cotton swab as Aria lifted her head slowly away from my neck, her eyes comically wide, and stared at my increasingly reddening face.

I pointedly did not look at Aria. I stared directly forward and tried to pretend I didn’t see her face splitting into a terrible grin.

“What,” Aria breathed the word out gleefully, “was that?!”

She still hadn’t moved her finger.

I swallowed hard and looked to the side away from her but, even in my periphery, I saw her grin turn sadistic.

Aria wiggled her finger slightly, and I let out another involuntary moan, then another finger joined the first and I shuddered violently, pleasure rippling through my limbs.

This was not how I wanted Aria to discover I had a thing for ass play.

“Look,” I said in a breathless voice, “w-when a girl is on an eight-month dry spell with a h-high libido,” I shivered as Aria teased me again, “s-sometimes that girl’s gotta get a little… creative to get the relief she n-needs, okay?”

“Do you,” Aria began, leaning forward and pressing her lips back to my neck, “have any idea,” her teeth scraped over the bare skin there, and I gasped, “how hot it makes me,” she arched her fingers and I let out a mewling cry as I clutched at her, “thinking of you, curled up under your covers, and going to fucking town on your own ass?”

A~nd I’m officially in Tartarus.

“A-Aria,” I squirmed in place as my voice took on a faintly pleading tone.

Not gonna lie, this was a little humiliating which, annoyingly, kind of made it better. Something that I strongly suspect Aria picked up on because she didn’t relent. Instead, she leaned up and fixed a canine on my ear and let out a purr of satisfaction.

“It’s okay,” Aria whispered, and I shivered at how tender she sounded. “Just relax… let me make you feel as good as…”

Her voice trailed off for a moment, and I felt my heart skip a beat. I could almost hear what she had been about to say.

Then…

“...as good as you make me feel,” Aria finished.

I must make her feel incredible because Aria’s touch was as incongruously gentle as her voice this morning. She worked her fingers slowly inside me as her thumb came up to play with my little button and my brain felt like it was melting out of my ears as Aria expertly drew out moans, pleas, and tiny, squeaking cries from me which I will deny to the grave. She played me the way a virtuoso plays an instrument, and worse… she took her time.

I’m not entirely certain how long we were curled up there on the chair, but I’m pretty sure I ruined those pajama pants by the time I came.

I jerked and cried out as an incredibly intense orgasm rolled through me, not like lightning, but like a slow, drowning wave.

Sagging against both the chair and Aria, for several moments I just… breathed. My entire body felt warm and fuzzy, and the afterglow had left me completely spent. A part of me just wanted to lay there forever, with Aria holding onto me, and drift off into a long nap.

“Aria?”

I spoke only after several long moments of basking in the sunny feeling that had taken up somewhere near my navel.

“Mm?” Aria glanced up at me, and my gooey brain lost whatever it was I was saying when I met her eyes. “What?”

Written’s Quill, her eyes were just so startlingly bright; sharp as a blade and, between the dim, early daylight and the drawn curtains, they gleamed in the low light of the morning like the eyes of a cat.

“You gonna stare all day, Shimmer, or should I get you a picture?” Aria said dryly, and I blushed.

A picture…

I smiled and pulled myself free of Aria’s arms for a moment, earning a grunt of dissatisfaction from her, to grab at my pants at the base of the chair.

Retrieving my phone from my jeans pocket, I laid back and let Aria curl back around me, which she did contentedly, then I pulled the blankets over us again and began fiddling with my phone.

“The hell're you doing, Shimmer?” Aria grumbled, resting her head on my shoulder.

“This!” I said cheerily, before raising the phone above us and clicking a picture. “New wallpaper!”

Aria rolled her eyes and yawned as she curled back up against me.

“Dork,” Aria muttered before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.

I held up the picture and examined it, and couldn’t help another blush covering my face. In the picture I had such a goofy, happy smile and, although I hadn’t seen it, Aria’s expression had morphed from resigned to a faint, curving, smirk, probably just before I took the picture.

She had smiled for me.

Grudgingly, maybe, but Aria Blaze had actually smiled for me.

“So next time you go for, uh,” I coughed and reddened a little, “y’know, there, maybe give a girl some warning? I’d like to have a chance to be… clean.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “Please, Shimmer, you’re compulsively clean,” she said, then glanced around the messy living room and shrugged, “well, your body is anyway.”

“You make me sound like a germaphobe,” I said, feeling a little defensive. “Besides, how would you know?”

Sitting up, Aria stretched, locking her fingers together over her head, which did a myriad of interesting things to her body.

“I’ve spent a lot of time down there lately,” Aria replied, smacking her lips as she rolled her neck, “that’s how.”

“I’m not compulsive,” I said, pulling the covers around me a little.

Aria snorted. “Fine, maybe not compulsive, but you’re a control freak,” she said as she slowly peeled herself off of me and freed her legs. “It’s why you get off when I take control.”

I blushed furiously. “H-Hey that’s not-”

“Give it a rest, Shimmer,” Aria said with a smirk. “I may be a shitty liar but I can read your kind like a book, at least when it comes to sex.”

I screwed up my face in annoyance. “My kind? How about you throw in a ‘you people’ while you’re at it!”

Aria matched my scowl. “Hey! Maybe you forgot, pony-girl, but I’m literally a different species,” she jabbed a thumb to her bare chest as she spoke with her other hand on her cocked hip. “Even on this side of the mirror, my biology is fundamentally different. I’m an immortal pathovore, not an oversized chimp.”

“Right, and I’m just your meal ticket, how could I forget?” I said scathingly. “So did you get enough for breakfast, then? My immortal mistress?”

Aria frowned, her whole face turning down in a scowl that was somehow softer than normal.

“I told you it’s not like that,” Aria said a little stiffly. “And… I’m fine, I’m not hungry.”

I chuckled as I sat up, surreptitiously correcting my pants as I did.

“Seriously?” I asked, smirking as I raised an eyebrow. “I thought you three were always hungry. Isn’t that why you guys opened a strip club- sorry, lounge?”

Instead of answering, Aria just stared down before shrugging.

“Normally we are,” she said after a moment. “Hungry, I mean. We’re apex predators, Shimmer, hunger keeps us moving.”

I narrowed my eyes at her tone. She sounded unsettled, uncertain, and even a little strained.

“So what changed?”

“I woke up and I wasn’t hungry,” Aria said in a clipped tone. “That’s all, now if you don’t mind, I’m gonna go take a shower.”

I watched her make her way to the bathroom, her movements fluid and beautiful, even now. She had a dancers grace no matter what, it seemed, and I guessed it made sense.

Muscle memory and all that.

But why had she seemed so unsettled by not being hungry? Wasn’t that good?

Whatever, I’d ask her later. Instead, I followed my instinct and got up. Tossing the covers aside, I went to my room and snatched up some fresh clothes as I heard the shower sputter to life. I judged that I still had a good two or three minutes, the water pressure in the campus dorm sucked ass.

I peeled myself out of my pajamas and tossed them into the laundry pile, the lower half of which was soaked through in a few places thanks to Aria’s little wake-up call, then I bundled up my fresh clothes and walked down the hall and into the bathroom.

Aria glared over her shoulder at me as I entered, she was standing by the stall waiting for the water to get warm enough.

“Oi, occupado,” Ari said gruffly. “I thought I locked that.”

I smirked again. “You probably did but the lock is busted, always has been.”

She made that annoyed clicking sound with her tongue again.

“And besides,” I continued as I sat my clothes down on the counter, “there’s never enough hot water for two decent showers, so I’m joining you.”

“Bullshit you a-”

I didn’t let her finish. I looped my arms around her slender, lovely waist and pulled her into a kiss.

Aria met my kiss with one of her own, curving one slim leg around mine as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders. There wasn’t even a hint of irritation or frustration, just passion.

On a whim, I opened one eye and glanced to the side at the closed door.

The knob was still turned up.

She hadn’t locked it at all.

I grinned into her kiss and pulled her closer. I wanted to drown in that scent of hers. It was everything she wasn’t and yet somehow fit her so well that I didn’t think I’d ever be able to smell lavender or mint again without thinking of Aria.

As we parted, Aria ran her tongue over my lips, then gently turned my head to kiss my cheek and down to my neck.

“Get into the shower, Red,” Aria whispered softly. “I’m right behind you.”

I shivered at the little pet name before turning away, and I shot a smile over my bare shoulder at her as I slipped past the curtain. I hissed in delight at the searing temperature Aria had set it at; it was just how I liked it which meant she either knew some very specific and obscure preferences of mine, or we were even more alike than I thought.

True to her word, Aria stepped inside a moment later and grabbed one of the body sponges I had hanging from the rack on the wall, putting a generous gob of body wash onto it and working into a thick lather.

“Stay still,” Aria said, and the tone of her voice reminded me of last night.

When she had fed me and dressed me.

Suddenly I realized what she was doing and I swear I felt my heart do a backflip as, from behind me, Aria began slowly and carefully washing my back. Her hands were moving up and down with comfortable strokes, evenly covering me in the floral-scented suds. I sighed in relief as Aria pressed herself against me, washing my arms, then bringing her hands around my front and soaping me up there. I was a special kind of relaxed before she’d even gotten halfway done, and by the time she finished my upper body I wanted to go back to sleep.

I didn’t, obviously. Instead, I turned my head to look back at her and offer to do my legs and lower half myself.

Aria didn’t give me the opportunity.

When I looked back, Aria was kneeling behind me, and was already starting to washing my legs. She did each one in turn, cleaning every inch of me.

And I mean every inch.

Enough that a few more moans slipped through my lips.

Surprisingly, Aria didn’t take advantage of them. She just kept washing me until I was the cleanest I’d felt in months.

I let out another soft sigh as Aria moved to my hair. Her fingers felt divine as she shampooed my long, red and gold locks, weaving them through the strands with infinite care, massaging my scalp, and overall leaving me feeling like I’d just had a day at the spa rather than having showered in the admittedly meager facilities of my dorm.

As I rinsed myself off I heard Aria began to apply another coat of lather to the sponge behind me, presumably intent on cleaning herself up now that she was done with me.

Without thinking, I turned in the shower and grabbed the sponge out of her hands.

Aria snapped her head up to glare to at me. “Shimmer, what the hell?”

“Don’t,” I said in a voice that I barely recognized as my own. “Please… let… let me.”

Blinking at me in surprise, Aria glanced down at the ball of suds in my hand, then back up to my eyes. I didn’t wait, instead, I closed the small distance between us and began doing for her what she had done for me.

I have never, in my life, done anything like this before for or to anyone.

It was… strange; but as I washed Aria's body, running the suds over her skin with as much care as I could manage, it left me with a feeling of almost religious satisfaction. It was as if, with each sweep of my hand, I was making something indescribably beautiful become that much more lovely. I touched every inch of Aria’s body and it felt, for lack of a better word, devotional.

Every pass of my hands was a prayer. Every inch of flesh I cleansed was an offering, and I moved with slow, methodical care, leaving a small trail of kisses wherever I cleaned.

It just felt… right.

I had to wonder: was this what Aria felt when she was handling me? And if it was… why? Why would she do this for me?

As we both stepped out of the shower and dried ourselves off, I kept stealing glances at Aria. She looked far more relaxed than she had when she’d gone in, and I swear she was even blushing.

“Aria?” I called softly, and she glanced over to me with one eyebrow crooked upward in question. “I… I’m sorry, but I’ve gotta know,” I said quietly as I slowly rung my hair dry with my towel. “What… what are we? What is this? This thing we’re doing? Because it’s not just fucking, not anymore.”

Aria glowered at me for several moments as she dried herself off, but I could see her thinking. Like I said, she doesn’t have much of a poker face.

Finally, as Aria set the damp towel aside, she let out a quiet, frustrated sigh.

“I don’t know, Shimmer,” Aria replied. “Why? Do you want it to end?”

“No!” I answered a lot faster than I probably should have, but I meant it. “I just don’t know how to treat you, or what to say, or… ugh, sometimes I feel like a drunk booty call, like last night in the lab, and other times, like now, I feel like we’ve been married for years, and it’s giving me emotional whiplash here.”

“What do you want from me, Shimmer?” Aria growled, fixing her burning amethyst gaze on me. “I might not have my magic anymore but I’m still a Siren, a predator, it’s in my nature!” Huffing, she crossed her arms over herself and for a moment looked strangely vulnerable. “So, look, I don't know what you expected but if you want something normal you’re not going to get that from me.”

“Aria…” I stepped closer, and I felt as much as saw her close up.

Her arms and shoulders tensed, and her expression narrowed into that fetchingly beautiful scowl.

I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close, and nestled my nose into her damp, two-tone locks. Even after using my shampoo she still smelled like lavender and mint.

“You’re so beautiful, Aria,” the words tumbled out of my lips, apropos of nothing.

Aria scoffed.

“I know that,” Aria hissed, her voice becoming heated, and she shrugged my arms off of her. “I’ve had my beauty quoted back to me in verse by bards and poets, kings and queens…” Aria pulled away from me with contempt in her features that made me wilt back. “I’ve had warlords torch cities in my name, emperors have laid crowns before me and kissed my feet for the pleasure of setting them on my brow!” I backed up as Aria ranted, her eyes burning, and bumped into the cold tile wall. “Artists have mutilated themselves just to get my attention! Composers have worked whole orchestras into a frenzy with odes to my beauty, ecstatic to earn so much as a contemptuous sneer from me-!”

I was shaking, and tears were forming at the edges of my eyes as I watched something primal in Aria laid bare for a moment. It was just a glimpse, but in that split-second I saw all the years she had lived, and felt so… so small.

“-and out of all that, do you know what PISSES ME OFF THE MOST?!” Aria finished, practically screaming the last words, panting and wide-eyed as she stared me down.

I just silently shook my head, and she sagged in place like something fundamental had gone out of her. Aria raised both of her hands and pressed them hard over her face, letting out a shaking, rattling breath.

“What pisses me off the most,” Aria said, in a quiet voice that was slightly muffled by her hands, “is that when I hear you say I’m beautiful, Red? It feels like I'm hearing it for the first time in my life.”

I stared at her, dumbfounded at the blatant and bald-faced admission. Aria’s eyes were wide and staring at nothing at particular through the slits between her fingers as breath came to her in slow, measured heaves.

Swallowing hard, I pushed back my fear and anxiety, and stepped closer to her. I wrapped her in my arms again and this time she just leaned against me, wordless and spent.

I’m not sure how long we stood there in the slowly cooling air of the bathroom, both of us naked and silent as we held onto one another. I didn’t want to let go, because I had this stupid, childish terror that if I did she’d just… vanish, like so much mist or fog.

I wonder if she had the same fear. If that’s why she was holding on to me just as tightly.

Out in the living room I heard a ringtone chime to life and it broke whatever spell was over us. Aria sighed in annoyance and peeled reluctantly out of my arms.

“That’ll be Adagio,” Aria said, her voice colored with irritation. “Probably checking to make sure I’m not dead in a ditch somewhere and to kindly remind me,” she said the last three words with a venomous saccharine, “that I have a performance later tonight.”

“Okay,” I said quietly, as Aria nudged the door open and went back out into the living room to answer the phone.

I started getting dressed, pulling on fresh panties and jeans and a black t-shirt with a set of horror movie monster teeth emblazoned on the front.

By the time I got out into the living room with Aria she was in the middle of what I assumed was a heated conversation with Adagio.

I say assumed because they were conversing rapidly in what sounded like Stalliongradi. Aria hadn’t dressed yet; she was pacing, making angry gestures as she spoke, until eventually I slipped up behind her and set a hand on the small of her back, making her jerk in surprise and stare at me.

I offered her a small, calming smile, sliding my fingers around to her hip and trailing my fingers up her side, and to my surprise I felt her relax under my touch as she leaned into me.

“Fine, fuck you too,” Aria spat into the phone, switching to a language I could understand, “and tell Sonata I’ll be back in an hour.” Adagio’s must have replied because Aria nodded a few times. “Yeah… yeah… I know… I love you, too, bye.”

Aria turned back to me, staring up at me with an enigmatic expression on her face.

“Will you come tonight?” Aria asked finally, her voice had no hint of what answer she expected.

I frowned and shook my head. “I have mid-terms in a few hours, and then another one tomorrow and… let’s be honest, if I go I won’t come back home, will I?”

Aria gave me a small smirk. “Probably not.”

“Raincheck?” I said hopefully, and Aria rolled her eyes.

“Sure thing, Shimmer,” Aria replied, a touch of sarcasm curling her lips upwards. “Stand me up again though, and we’ll have words.”

“Mmm… will we though?” I asked playfully, leaning down and nuzzling my nose against hers for a moment before getting another taste of that perfect Cupid’s bow.

Aria let out a hum that was equal parts frustration and enjoyment.

Eventually, though, we parted and she got dressed, throwing on the outfit she’d had on yesterday before making her way to the door.

A crazy urge descended on me like a mach two whiffle bat, and before my better judgment could get in the way I made the snap decision to act on it.

I got to the door at the same time Aria did and put my hand over hers just as it touched the doorknob. She glanced up to me, her eyebrow doing that thing where she asks me a question with it.

Rather than answer, I leaned forward and gave her a single, soft kiss on the lips.

“Have a good day at work,” I said in a quiet voice as I pulled away.

Aria blinked up at me in shocked astonishment. Whatever she had been expecting it had not been that. She was genuinely lost for words as she stared at me in silence.

Then, as if some decision had been made and had clicked into place in the back of her head, Aria’s usual stoically annoyed expression came back, she nodded, and then left.

But she reached out to give my hand a quick squeeze before she did, and I rode that high for the rest of the day.

5. Love & War

“Well that was mortifying,” I mumbled as I stepped out of the drizzling autumn rain and into the dorm building.

It was well past midnight and I was utterly exhausted. I had completed my latest mid-term easily enough, and I’d actually been a little ambivalent about this one but I’d pretty much demolished it. I attributed a small part of that to how relaxed I was going in; say what you will, but getting laid on the regular can do wonders for your mood.

That wasn’t the problem, the problem was that, as I had suspected, Roseluck hadn’t been able to keep her mouth shut. One thing that had not changed since high school was that she, Daisy, and Lily were the most incorrigible gossips in forty miles, and from the moment I’d realised who it was that had seen Aria and me in the computer lab, I knew I'd been made.

Fortunately, Rose hadn’t recognised Aria from that distance, and it had then gotten around campus that I had hired a hooker to eat me out in the lab.

Which then led to my having to speak with the Dean about inappropriate conduct.

Which in turn meant I had to spend several hours arguing about how, no, I had not solicited sex on school grounds, and how that had just been my… ugh… I’d needed to tell them something, so I had called Aria my girlfriend.

The school had not been happy about my activities but, given my otherwise stellar record, multitude of scholarships, and excellent grades, they had kindly given me a pass on it this time, although they had stressed the words this time.

No more sexytime shenanigans where people have to do their work. Which I got, really I did, it wasn’t exactly sanitary.

I glanced at my phone as I slumped through the lobby of the building towards the bank of elevators that would take me to my floor; thanks to the hours-long conversation with the Dean I'd had to scramble to do everything I needed to today, and as a result, it was one in the fucking morning. Good thing my midterm tomorrow wasn’t until four in the afternoon, I’d just skip my first two classes and sleep in. I was already way ahead of the material anyway.

“Ahem.”

I froze at the noise, then very, very slowly, turned to see Adagio Dazzle sitting in one of the lumpy lobby chairs, grinning at me.

“Good evening, Sunset,” Adagio said with a beatific smile. “Or, morning, as the case may be.”

“Shit,” I muttered, before raising my voice into false cheer. “H-hey, Adagio, what's up? Got any more blackmail for me?”

Adagio rolled her eyes and laughed, Written’s Quill but that was a lovely sound. “I wasn’t trying to blackmail you, Shimmer, I was trying to get just enough leverage over you to ensure you wouldn’t try and make the lives of I and my sisters difficult.”

“That sounds suspiciously like blackmail,” I replied dryly. “What do you want?”

Rather than answer, Adagio stood up, gestured for me to follow her, and she walked a little way down the hall and into the office that belonged to the floor manager. I raised an eyebrow as she fitted a key to the door, unlocked it and gestured for me to go in.

“How…?” I began, and Adagio smirked.

“Let’s just say your manager has a few bad habits he’d rather not be brought up to the police,” Adagio said with a venomous smile. “I told him I needed the use of his office, and if he did so I’d forget about it all.”

I coughed slightly, staring at Adagio with growing wariness.

“I was lying of course,” Adagio continued as she nudged me into the room, following me in and closing the door with a muted ‘click’ of the lock. “Filming young women without their knowledge is rather illegal and rubs me, specifically, the wrong way.”

“W-what?” I felt a knot of horror snare up in my gut.

“Don’t worry,” Adagio said with a matronly smile. “I’ll ruin his life tomorrow, I’ve got business with you, for now.”

Swallowing back my questions on our skeevy floor manage whom I’d always found kind of creepy anyway, I nodded. Adagio slid behind the desk of El Skeevo and settled into the chair, gesturing for me to take the chair opposite her.

“So… what’s up?” I asked again as I sat down.

“What is ‘up’,” Adagio parroted, “is that I am worried about you, Sunset.”

I blinked. “Uh… beg pardon?”

Adagio rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you and Aria think you’ve been quite subtle, but really… my sister wouldn’t know subtle if it bit her on her bony ass.”

“Her ass isn’t bony!” I said defensively, then clamped my lips shut as I realised what I’d said. I must be more tired than I thought.

Bubbling laughter spilled out of Adagio, and I swear that somehow she managed to make every sound that came out of her sound like music.

“My, my, she really has her hooks in you,” Adagio said with a smile. “And understand that, under normal circumstances, I’d be completely fine with it, but these are not normal circumstances because you,” she pointed at me and her tone suddenly sharpened, “are not normal, Sunset. You’re part of a magical WMD that could make my life and lives of my short-sighted sisters very hard when things go wrong.”

I scowled. “What do you mean ‘when’ things go wrong?”

Adagio leaned back in her chair and stared across at me, and for a moment I could see the weight of the years she’d lived settle behind those brilliant, almost raspberry colored eyes of hers.

“Aria is a romantic plague, my dear,” Adagio began, her voice low. “Trust me when I say that I’ve seen it before.”

“And maybe this time is different,” I shot back, but as I did I could hear how weak that sounded. “I… I mean, you three are different now, right?”

Adagio shook her head. “It’s never been about our Siren nature, Sunset, trust me… if Aria had been born human, Nodens forfend, I suspect she would have been just as toxic.”

“I don’t think she’s that bad,” I said, feeling a small well of anger building in my chest. “I… I like being with her, I enjoy it, I…”

I swallowed the last words I was going to say, burying them back in my heart. I wanted to say them, badly, but I couldn’t. Not just because my whole-ass brain was fighting me on admitting that, but because I didn’t want the first person I said it to, to be Adagio fucking Dazzle.

Aria deserved better than that.

“They all think that, at first,” Adagio said quietly, and I saw a hint of what I thought was actual pity in her eyes. “Aria is a fire, her name isn’t hyperbole you know…”

Her words put a tiny pebble of doubt in my heart; like a stone stuck in the bottom of your shoe that you just can’t ignore.

“Let me guess,” Adagio continued, “she follows you around, she seduces you wherever she pleases, makes you feel better than you’ve ever felt, and when you’re with her you feel like you could fly?” She didn’t let me answer, she just kept talking. “You think about her wherever you go, you let her treat you basically however she likes, oh you’ll argue but it won’t change anything, and slowly but surely she starts to take up more and more of your thoughts.”

“I…” I didn’t like how accurate that sounded, even after only a week and a day that was alarmingly accurate.

I had spent practically the entire day thinking about Aria. I had told her this morning that I wasn’t going to be able to go to her performance, but I hadn’t been out of the house an hour before I’d been seriously considering it. I hadn’t gone, but I knew it was only due to the fact that I’d had to defend my academic standing.

Had it been up to me… I would probably be in Aria’s bed at this very moment.

“Do you feel like you love her?” Adagio asked quietly, and I froze, poleaxed in place by the question. “Is there a part of your mind that fancies a day when you’ll be together forever?”

My breath rattled on the way in and I grit my teeth. “What’s the point of all of this?”

“My point,” Adagio said in a gentle tone that conveyed a century of sadness, “is that this will not be the first time that Aria has burned a lover to the ground in the flames of her passion.”

Obviously, I knew that… she was over a thousand years old and if her skill in bed was any indication she’d clearly had plenty of practice. Intellectually, I knew that but… hearing it out loud still hurt me a lot worse than I’d been expecting. What made it worse was that Adagio wasn’t giving me some enigmatic look of a master manipulator, I wasn’t having any trouble reading her at all.

She just looked sad. She looked sad for me.

“My sister,” Adagio continued, “leaves behind ruin wherever she swims, she was once known as the Ravager for the ruin she would wreak, and for good reason.”

Sighing, Adagio placed her fingers on her temples and massaged them. “I know precisely what will happen if this… relationship, you two have continues. It will be exactly the same thing that happened the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that, ad nauseam. The difference here is that the humans she scorched into metaphorical ash before were not friends with people who had access to powerful magical artifacts.”

“So you’re afraid of reprisal,” I said grimly, feeling that well of anger open up as something dark rose out it. Maybe I didn’t know all of Aria’s past but I didn’t like being judged by her other lovers. “I’ll tell them to lay off if anything happens, okay? No problem.”

Adagio raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think you’re properly appreciating how much damage my little sister can wreak on your heart, my dear,” she shook her head and sighed. “Let me be perfectly and painfully frank with you, Sunset… my sister will never, ever love you the way you think you love her.”

And there goes my heart.

“T-that's… I don’t…” I stammered, working my jaw uselessly. I was a pretty good liar but I don’t think anyone is that good. To my shame and anger, tears started to form in my eyes. “W-why? Why are you saying this to me?”

“To spare you a much greater pain later on,” Adagio said softly. “Believe what you like, Sunset, but the truth is this: I actually like you… I admire your strength and your charisma, your ambition and your fire… I think you would have made a spectacular Siren,” inching forward in the chair, Adagio reached across the desk and put a hand over mine, and I realised I was shaking. “I don’t want to see you burn and self-destruct the way the others did. Aria could give them everything they wanted, but never what they needed, and they were addicted to her like the worst kind of drug.”

“B-But…” I felt the tears fall, and Adagio’s hand gripped mine a little tighter. I must have been really needing it because I squeezed back.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the things Aria had said to me.

‘So if you want something normal? You’re not going to get that from me.’

Aria had warned me of exactly the same thing that Adagio was here to talk to me about herself. She had told me, full stop, exactly what she was and what to expect from her, and I had dismissed it because I… I wanted it to be more.

“She will never be what you need, Sunset,” Adagio said quietly, I let out a tiny sob. “She won’t be able to take care of you,” I blinked at that, suddenly thinking of the night before, and of this morning, “she won’t be there for you,” that… that didn’t sound right. “She won’t even kiss you.”

My tears stopped and I pulled my hand away, and Adagio furrowed her brow as she became aware that something had clearly changed in my demeanor.

I wiped away my tears and looked up at Adagio who had narrowed her eyes like she was re-evaluating me.

“What is it?” Adagio asked quietly. “I said something and you… stopped, what was it?”

“You said she’s had a lot of lovers, right?” I asked, my voice low and a little raw.

Adagio examined me for a moment before nodding. “I’m not sure I’d say ‘a lot’ given our lifespans… Aria is very selective. One or two every half-century or so, I’d say, but they always go the same way, they die in fire, metaphorically speaking… well, usually just metaphorically.”

“What’s she like with them?” I asked, and I could see the wheels turning in Adagio’s mind. She wanted to ask me why I was fielding these questions. “Please, just… I need to know.”

Sighing, Adagio shrugged. “I assume you’ve heard the term: Sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll?”

I nodded.

“They coined that phrase for Aria,” Adagio said dryly. “She is an ungentle creature, and her relationships reflect that in the extreme.” Adagio waved her hand dismissively, “she takes control of them, not with her magic but with good old-fashioned lust, and then takes their soul for a joyride. Narcotics, ever-increasing sexual perversion, self-destruction, they don’t eat, barely sleep, and as a Siren, she can withstand that sort of thing… humans, though? Not so much.”

“She doesn’t make sure they eat and take care of themselves?” I asked, raising an eyebrow, and Adagio let out a bark of laughter.

“What?” Adagio asked with a bubbling chuckle. “Nodens, no… she gives them a brief taste of what it means to be a Siren and then lets them crash and burn. I’m not certain what her criteria for lovers are, but its always creatives… the brilliant or the mad… artists and the like.” Adagio grimaced as she tapped her chin as if coming to a realisation. “I wonder if it's their sensitivity that makes their self-destruction more… volatile… more delicious.”

“Delicious?” I asked, my face screwing up in a scowl.

“Oh, yes,” Adagio said with a nasty grin. “I suppose to put it in context, that sort of relationship is essentially Aria going on a bender… it’s an awfully loud affair, which is why I’m glad I've only had to put up with it twice a century at most til now,” Adagio chuckled again, “I suppose it’s fortunate that she’s something of a fickle bitch and possessed of a terribly short attention span for you humans, otherwise it would probably happen more often.”

“Why doesn’t she kiss them?” I asked finally, I’d wanted to ask Aria that, but I got the feeling she wouldn’t answer. “On the mouth I mean.”

Adagio raised an eyebrow, and I thought it reminded me awfully of Aria. I guess they really were sisters, though.

“Because a kiss, to a Siren, means more than it does to a human,” Adagio answered finally. “We do breath air, I should mention… in our true forms, underwater, I mean. Our magic converts respiratory by-products back to the necessary oxygen so we don’t have to surface, but to kiss is to share that air, the product of our magic so it’s... culturally meaningful, I suppose is the best phrase.”

“I see…” I said quietly, sitting back in my chair. “So what would it mean if I told you that Aria kissed me?”

Adagio stared and the unflappable expression on her face cracked a little as her eyes widened and breathing grew heavier.

“I assume…” Adagio said in a thin voice, “this is hypothetical?”

I shook my head.

“LIAR!”

Adagio slammed her hands onto the desk, rattling it as she spat the word. Her eyes were blazing and her face twisted into an angry rictus as I let out a terrified squeak and staggered back. The rolling chair didn’t like that one bit and rolled over on me, sending me spilling to the ground.

Moving around the desk, Adagio towered over me for a moment before leaning down, grabbing me by the collar and hoisting me into the air with surprising strength.

“You’re lying, Shimmer,” Adagio hissed. “My sister did not share her air with you, you are not that important.”

I stared down into Adagio’s eyes and suddenly I felt similar to how I did when Aria had begun ranting. I felt small and young. I felt like a child faced with a rising tsunami, staring at the impossible glory of something so huge and so powerful, and so utterly destructive. Every inch of softness I’d seen in Adagio’s body seemed to harden as she held me up, I saw her shoulders tense with a surprising amount of muscle, and her arms cord the same way.

Underneath that soft, curvaceous facade, Adagio had forged a body of steel and violence, and I knew without a doubt that it was specifically to protect her sisters.

“I’m not!” I gasped out, scrabbling at her grip. “I s-swear! She kissed me that night in the lounge, and then tracked me down at the lab a week later, she s-said she couldn’t eat anything but me!” I tried to pull at her hands but they were implacable. “A-and then I collapsed, I hadn’t eaten in a while, and she took me back to my dorm a-and fed me, and c-clothed me, and-”

“-bathed you?” Adagio whispered, the violence fading from her eyes. She relaxed slightly, lowering me to the ground. “Did she wash your body?”

I nodded. “This morning, we took a shower together because the hot water doesn’t last, and… yeah, she did, why?”

Adagio chuckled a little wanly and stepped away from me like I was some kind of pariah, holding up her hands almost defensively. “I see… that’s… interesting, I did not expect that… no, I did not expect that at all when I came here.”

There was an odd light to her eyes like she was terrified of something.

“Adagio,” I said, a little worried at the sudden change as I massaged my neck, “talk to me, what's up?”

“Sirens are a species of war and consumption,” Adagio said quietly. “Gluttony and death are our watchwords… so understand that concepts like ‘love’ and ‘friendship’ are… not our way,” she spoke as if she were trying to work around to something, and I nodded for her to continue. “We do not… wed, per se, nor do we fall in love, precisely, but… we do, ahem… court…”

My jaw slid open as I started to follow her, but then she shook her head, waved a hand.

“No, no, that’s not right… that’s…” Adagio grumbled, then swore in a flowing, serpentine language I didn’t understand. “There isn’t a word for it in the human tongue,” Adagio said angrily, “humans are pack creatures, social by nature, you can’t understand the nature of a Siren, but if I were to say that Aria has simultaneously declared her affection for you, sworn a blood oath against you, and declared war on you, that would not be disloyal to the meaning of the Sirenic word for it.”

“Okay,” I said quietly, nodding along, “so what does that mean in the practical?”

Adagio sagged a little and leaned back against the desk, staring over at me with narrow eyes.

“It means, my dear,” Adagio said in a low, threatening voice, “that my sister has found her mate and she will either have her, or she will kill her.”

My eyes flew wide at that. “M-Mate?! Uh… w-we’ve only been, like, doing stuff for a few days tops! How could-”

Adagio jerked her hand in a cutting motion, silencing me. “Length of time is something that concerns you mortals, not us, not Sirens, understand?” she scowled and crossed her arms under her breasts which did interesting things to them. “Even normal Sirens could live a millennium or more, and our minds are made to withstand the passage of ages, we do not become traumatized but nor do we… particularly grow. We simply exist, whether the timespan is vast or minute is irrelevant, we are what we are until violence takes us which holds true even as we are now.” Sighing, she put a hand over her face and groaned. “It takes us all of a second to decide what we want and when we want it, maybe it’s a predator thing… I don’t know, I don’t pretend to understand a mayfly species like yours that can’t manage to keep its mind intact past a single measly century, so I don’t expect you’ll grasp ours.”

“Is this really a bad thing, though?” I asked, reaching a hand out to place it on Adagio’s shoulder. “I mean… what if-”

“What if you’re wrong?” Adagio asked grimly, and I froze. “What if you’re not in love with her? What if you grow tired of her? Because, believe me, Aria can be exhausting… what if you fall in love with someone else? Someone human, someone like you?”

I swallowed hard. I hadn’t really considered that, which seems awfully short-sighted of me now, but Adagio had a fair point. Hadn’t I just said it? We’d only been doing our thing for a few days. It was intense and passionate but… what happened if it faded?

“Siren’s are creatures of hunger, passion, and, yes, to a certain extent madness,” Adagio said quietly. “I suggest you think long and hard on what you want, Sunset Shimmer, because if that’s not Aria and you string her along then there is nowhere you’ll be able to flee to escape her.”

“I… I don’t think she would ever hurt me,” I said honestly.

Adagio sighed, and this time I heard genuine remorse in it.

“Of course you don’t,” Adagio said after a moment. “After all, you’re only human.”

Standing up, Adagio rolled her neck and took a deep breath, then stepped out of the office and began walking towards the exit. As she did she glanced over her shoulder at me, shooting me something like a pitying glare.

“I followed Aria here, by the way,” Adagio called out as she reached the door and opened it, letting in a breeze of night air, “I imagine she’s up in your room waiting for you.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” I replied, and Adagio let out a huffing laugh.

She stood, silhouetted in the doorway for a short time before turning back to me with a strange expression on her face.

“Answer me in honest, Sunset,” Adagio said, her expression unreadable. “Do you love my sister?”

I swallowed hard, seriously considering whether or not I wanted to answer Adagio’s question at all. I wanted to say it to Aria, I wanted to say a lot of things to her actually, but… I could hear the note of pleading in Adagio’s voice. She needed an answer.

“I… I think so,” I said sincerely, “It's early... so maybe I'm just riding the high, and I know it hasn’t been long," then I sighed and admitted, "also I might be one of those people who fall in love a little too easy… but… yeah.”

“I see,” Adagio said softly. “Then I will pray for you.”

With that, she vanished into the night and, I’ll be honest, that offer to pray for me probably unsettled me more than anything else. She wasn’t wrong in that I had no idea what I was getting into with Aria, and maybe this was the same insanely reckless side of me that thought jamming a magical crown on my head and making an army of zombie teenagers was a good plan, but that kind of made me want to try this crazy thing more.

I turned on my heel and went back to the elevators, riding it up in silence as I considered Adagio’s words. She was worried about her sister, obviously, and I understood that much at least. She wanted Aria to be happy, and I think that’s why she decided not to interfere with whatever was going on here, but she also didn’t want me to die, which I appreciated.

I'm also a fan of not dying, that’s pretty much been a thing for me for a while now, though. Real passionate about that pursuit, actually.

So why was I walking into my apartment that I knew contained a Siren whose sister had literally just warned me was entirely capable of and willing to kill me if she couldn’t have me.

My useless-ass brain was just giving me an emphatic ‘shrug-emoji’ to be perfectly honest. I recalled reading somewhere that humans are pretty bad at long-term thinking, and I was apparently the poster girl for it tonight.

I’m not entirely sure how Aria got into my dorm room because I’m certain I locked it and I know she doesn’t have a key, but the door was unlocked when I got there. I glanced over at the coat rack and, sure enough, there was a black denim jacket and a lime green ballcap hanging from it. I put my own black leather jacket next to her denim one, kicked my shoes off, dropped my keys in the bowl on the counter, and went into the kitchen.

I don’t drink crazy-often but, on occasion, I’ll crack open a cold one, specifically ale, I like ale… and mead. It reminds me a little of home, I think. Earth pony mead is something special and I miss the hell out of it.

Opening the cupboard above the fridge, I pulled out one of the bottles of sweet mead I kept on hand, pulled out the bottle opener, and cracked it open. Aria was nowhere in sight which meant I knew precisely where she was and that she would wait the few minutes this took me. I stared at the mead bottle for a moment, really thinking hard about what I was about to do.

Then I shrugged again, stopped thinking, and lifted the bottle to my lips, taking a long pull.

Out of another cupboard came a pair of wine glasses, and I filled them both with the golden, sweet-smelling alcohol, before popping a cap on the rest of the bottle and putting it back.

A moment later I thought better of it and pulled it back out, tucking the bottle under my arm before picking up the glasses and moving to my room.

It was dark but I could see the shape underneath the covers and hear the soft breathing that I’d come to recognise.

For a moment I just stood there, leaning in the doorway and staring at the slender figure that was taking up my bed, and I took a sip of my mead.

“Well, Sunset, let’s do this,” I muttered to myself, then nudged the door shut, walked in, and set both glasses and bottle on the stand beside the bed.

Aria stirred as I pulled my clothes off and tossed them in an unruly pile on the floor next to the bed with hers. She rolled over slightly, her sleepy eyes fluttering open as I pulled the covers back and slipped into bed, slinging a leg over her until I was straddling her. I didn’t speak, I didn’t say a word, I just pulled the covers a little closer over us and leaned down to press my lips against that delicious cupid’s bow.

Neither of us said a word, we just kissed, and I felt Aria’s hands trail up to caress my thighs and up to my sides, then to my breasts. Quill, she was so warm… so perfectly soft… I could see how someone could get addicted to her.

Was I addicted to her?

Probably.

As we pulled apart, Aria glanced to the side and spotted the mead. Her face split into a grin and she reached out, but I pinned her arm to the bed prompting her to glared up at me. I just shook my head silently, then sat up, reached out, and picked up one of the wine glasses, then stared down at her as I swirled the bright golden wine in my grip.

Aria met my stare for a moment, her amethyst eyes burning with desire as she began to straightened slowly with her face angled up at me expectantly, a small smile growing over her face.

Aria knew what I was doing, she knew what I expected, and I knew that she wanted it, so I obliged her by pressing the rim of the glass to Aria's gorgeous lips and tipping it gently forward. She sipped slowly, never taking her eyes off of mine, and I watched in mute fascination as her lovely throat moved, swallowing each gulp of the honey wine down until the glass was empty.

Then it was Aria’s turn to sit up, and she pulled herself partially out from under me as I shrank down a little, still meeting her gaze with half-lidded eyes, licking my lips, and Aria smirked as she picked up the second glass. She took a sip of the wine, then leaned in and pressed her lips to mine, and I taste the mead flow from her mouth, past my lips, and across my tongue as we kissed.

It felt like there was something unspeakable in the air, something primal and perfect… I don’t know what it as about Aria that always drew my mind to the divine, but it was there nonetheless. Maybe it was her immortality, maybe it was her timelessness and her wild abandon that made me imagine old pagan gods cavorting around incensed bonfires on the tops of mountains, but I couldn’t feel normal around her.

Aria pulled slowly back, and a moment later her lips were replaced by a cool, smooth chill as she pressed the rim of her glass to my lips. Aria tipped it back and I drank slowly and with care, and I swallowed every drop until the glass was empty, and I was full of a deep, buzzing warmth that emanated up from my belly. The second empty glass joined the first as she reached up to caress my cheek which was getting more than a little feverish.

I leaned into her touch, letting my senses drown in everything that was Aria Blaze; the feeling of her long, slender fingers, her soft skin, the scent of lavender and mint, the sound of her breath, and the taste of her lips.

Aria slipped her hand around the back of my head and pulled me down, not to kiss her but down and down until we were tangled together in the bed, and only then did she start kissing me. Our hands wandered wildly over each other's bodies, exploring and touching as she ground herself against my leg, leaving trails of wetness on me, and I did the same to her.

Eventually, our hands found one another’s cores and, with almost perfect synchronicity, we slipped fingers inside one another. I felt her tightness, and how her hot, wet walls clenched around my fingers, and I wanted more. I pumped my fingers slowly at first, letting her moan into my mouth as we kissed; I wanted to know where and what Aria wanted, how she wanted it… I wanted to feel every inch of her, know each of her sensitive places, so I went slowly.

She already knew all of mine, and I shuddered to orgasm over and over as she plied her expertly skilled fingers inside me. I was no slouch though, and I felt her hit her peak moments later, and then a moment after that my hand was drenched with her pleasure.

Without pausing, I pulled my hand up and ran my tongue over my fingers, and I saw her eyes widen at the sight, and her breath came out in a shuddering wave. Abruptly, Aria pulled my hand away from my face and kissed me, hard and fast, her tongue sliding in to tangle with mine, and let out another soft moan as I pushed harder against her.

I felt something shift inside me, like a switch almost, clicking into place, and a growl slipped past my lips as I tightened my grip around Aria.

This was why Aria had reduced so many of the others she'd been with to so many emotional cinders.

It was because they were always chasing her, chasing the ever-burning dragon that was Aria Blaze. Pursuing the uncatchable thinking that if they could just catch her then they could have her.

But that’s not what Aria wanted. After all, no prey in their right mind chases a predator, the rabbit doesn't pursue the wolf. If Aria was a predator then she needed prey who could make it worth her time to catch them.

And, oh yes... I wanted to be chased.

Snarling, I gripped Aria’s wrists and pushed her down to the bed, pinning her underneath me, and I saw the belligerent anger erupt into life behind her eyes. The burning fury of a Siren, an immortal, staring down a mortal who had the sheer gall, the unbridled hubris, to touch her in such a manner.

“You’re never leaving me,” I hissed, staring into her eyes, and Aria froze. “Never… I won’t let you, not now, not ever.”

Amethyst stars burned into my eyes, and for a moment I saw myself reflected in those perfect gem-toned orbs. I saw something I barely recognised as me. Eyes that reminded me of nothing so much as the clear blue sky on the hottest imaginable summer day. The sort of day where the air is choking and dry, and the light burns at the back of your neck, and the sky is so, so, agonizingly blue, without a hint of a cloud in sight to offer the most meager promise of shade.

Chase me, Aria, and let’s see if you can keep up with Sunset goddamn Shimmer.

“You think you can you keep me?” Aria snarled back, her mouth split wide in a teeth-baring shark’s grin.

I towered over her, staring down with abandon as sweat trickled between my shoulder blades and between my breasts, and I ground my hips against her, pressing my dripping cunt against her and riding her for several moments, dragging out gasp after gasp of tortured pleasure from the both of us.

“You’re mine, now,” I growled, “all mine, so chase me, or I’ll burn you like the fucking sun if you look anywhere else.”

Aria’s eyes clouded with lust and let out a musical cry, I felt her fluid splash against my thighs, and I shuddered in pleasure at the sensation. I loved feeling her cum, it was intoxicating.

Speaking of which.

I reached out and grabbed the bottle, which was still mostly full, then ripped the cap off, lifted it to my lips, and took another long pull.

Swallowing, I took another smaller mouthful, and then set the bottle back down and leaned down to press my lips to Aria’s. We shared the honied wine, and I felt her moan softly against me.

If she was going to try and burn me alive with her passion then I’d just have to burn hotter than that first. We’d share a sky and I would fill that endless searing blue with auburn fire and who knows? Maybe we’d walk out of it together.

Or maybe I’d burn the both of us alive.

So long as it was with Aria though… I don’t think it really mattered.

6. Prisoners of War

I moaned softly, my voice muffled completely by the pair of panties that were currently stuffed into my mouth. I should mention that they’re my panties, although had they been Aria’s I wouldn’t have complained either. It’s not like I haven’t been down there on her my own damn self plenty of times before, you know?

“Ssh,” Aria whispered, her voice rich and playful as she pressed herself against my back, “quiet now, Shimmer… don’t want them to hear us, do you?”

“Mm,” I grunted, and brace myself against the fabric wall, spreading my legs a little more.

I felt the plastic hardness of Aria’s toy against my ass, and the cool, liquid chill of the lube she had liberally applied.

“Now… just relax,” Aria’s voice was heated with lust as she pushed forward. “Just… relax.”

My eyes rolled up in my head as I felt her slide the first few inches inside me, and my legs buckled. My skirt was hiked up around my waist as I pressed my body against the wall and shook. I could hear voices outside, and the terror of being caught just gave me a greater thrill if I’m being honest.

Being caught in the computer lab had cracked something open in me and I discovered that, apparently, I’m a bit of exhibitionist… who knew?

Aria’s own skirt was on the ground around her feet, pooled beside a small backpack she’d brought with her that contained the strap-on she was currently using on my ass. That wasn’t the worst, or best, part I suppose, depending on your point of view.

Above us, a voice chimed reminding everyone that there was a sale going on in the men's department.

I shivered again as Aria slid another inch deeper, and I heard her sigh in satisfaction. “Fuck, you’re so damn good, Shimmer,” Aria hissed, gripping my hips, “I could ride you like this all… fucking… day.”

“Mmlease,” I groaned, my heart hammering in my chest.

It had been but over two weeks since the night we’d spent in my room. The night I had decided to throw myself wholesale into the living inferno that was Aria Blaze. Some say you can’t fight fire with fire, but as my old pyrothurgy professor used to say: ‘Of course you can fight fire with fire! You can fight everything with fire!’

I’d woken up that morning to a room that had been upended by what had turned into a kind of sexual demolition derby, two empty bottles of mead, and a pair of disturbing realisations.

One: It was three’o’clock in the afternoon meaning I had just under an hour to get ready and make it to my next midterm.

Two: Somehow, I was still drunk, and knowing my luck my hangover would hit right around the start of exams.

I was right, but I’m also Sunset goddamn Shimmer so I aced it anyway, then I rushed out of class, threw up in the ladies room, and dragged myself back to bed where I could patiently wait for the cold, merciful release of death. What I got instead was a gorgeous, gentle, attentive, and infuriatingly sober Siren spending the evening taking care of me. Aria had kept a cool rag over my head, water in my system, and even better?

Aria sang for me.

For hours and hours, Aria sat in bed with me, with my head in her lap, and sang for me. It was the best hangover of my life, and only reinforced my decision to stay with her through whatever came, and if I hadn’t been certain that I was in love with her before that, then I was definitely sure after.

I saw her every day after that; sometimes she would come to me, other times I would meet her at the Last Note, but we’d always be sure to end the day together. Except for today, that is, which we had made certain we would be able to spend the entirety of together getting into the best kind of trouble.

So here I am: getting my ass pounded in the fitting room of a major department store by my psychotic immortal girlfriend.

“Mmf, fuck, we should’ve done this sooner,” Aria whispered, biting at my ear as she hilted herself inside me, making me groan pleasantly into the wad of fabric at the feeling of being so full, and she gave my ass a firm squeeze. “You really are fucking perfect, Shimmer.”

Perfect for her. Just like she is for me.

I shook and jerked, trying to keep myself as quiet as possible, but it was getting harder and harder as I got closer to my peak. Aria rolled her hips back and forth, pushing and thrusting and sending shockwaves of pleasure through me that was making it agonizingly hard to stay on my feet.

Then, like the snap of a released spring, I hit my edge. Aria must have felt me get there too, because her hand swept around and clamped hard over my mouth, which was a blessing because no amount of fabric alone was going to properly muffle that sound. I shook, my body rattling as I came and I soaked my own legs before sagging back against Aria, feeling unspeakably satisfied.

“What a good girl you are,” Aria hissed quietly, running her tongue against my neck. “That was so good… I’m so proud of you.”

I shivered in delight at her words. I would do anything to hear that, and frankly I’d probably indulge Aria in just about anything. Same as she would do for me, honestly. After all, this one had been my idea.

Slowly, Aria pulled herself free of me, then plucked my panties from my mouth, and I mewled softly at the sudden feeling of her being gone, but a moment later she was kneeling in front of me, letting me brace myself against the wall of the fitting room while she supported my legs, and dutifully began cleaning me up.

With her tongue.

Did I mention that I would do anything for this woman?

Once I was, ahem, tidied up, Aria stood and leaned in to wrap her arms around me, pulling my skirt down to decency on her way up as she dressed herself, and she pressed her lips to mine with a wide, happy grin before leaning in and melting against me.

“Happy birthday, Shimmer,” Aria whispered against my neck.

I giggled wildly and wrapped my arms around her too, pulling her closer as I buried my face in her hair and took a deep breath. The scent of lavender and mint rippled through me and I felt my whole body relax.

“Hey Aria?” I said quietly, my voice slightly muffled by her two-tone locks. “Don’t, like… freak out and run when I say, uh, what I’m about to say, okay?”

“Pff, Aria Blaze doesn’t run,” Aria replied cockily.

“I love you, Aria.”

Aria froze, and for the first time in weeks I felt that strange tense and shiver, and then she had her hands on my cheeks and was dragging me into another furious kiss. Amidst it, I heard her voice, muffled against my lips and tongue.

“Mmve ymm.”

I pulled away, blinking. “W-what?”

Aria’s eyes were wide and almost furious, and that fever-bright light that brought her amethyst orbs to life was burning so blindingly that I could hardly meet them.

“I said,” Aria spat the words as she gripped my collar, “I fucking love you too!”

Then she started dragging me down again into another kiss, but this time I didn’t let her. I was still taller and had about thirty pounds over her, so I heaved her up into the air and into my arms. Aria responded by locked her legs around my waist and kissing me furiously.

A knocking came at the door, and a quavering voice called out.

“U-uhm, are you two done?” he said, uncertainly. “Someone else needs to use this booth.”

Aria pulled away from me and glowered at the door. “Eat shit!”

“Aria, don’t,” I admonished her with a scowl. “The poor guy’s just doing his job.”

I set her down, and Aria shifted her glower to me, then huffed and started gathering up her things, stuffing them unceremoniously back into the backpack.

“Hey!” I said, annoyed. “Well?”

Aria looked up at me, fixing an angry glare on me, but I didn’t budge. After a moment she stood up and slung her pack over her shoulder and fixed her hat to her head.

“Well ‘what’?” Aria snapped.

My lips twisted into a scowl of my own, and I reached out and shoved the door open to reveal a slightly portly and terrified-looking young man.

“Apologise!” I said firmly, pointing at the young man.

Aria’s eyes widened and she sputtered for a few moments, but I kept glaring down at her, not budging on it even an inch. If I gave Aria that inch she would take every single mile in the world, and we both knew it.

Over the course of a few seconds, Aria’s face went several amusing shades of red before she finally turned, glaring heated death at the poor kid, and said through gritted teeth and in a voice like a razorblade being scraped over leather.

“Sorry about that.”

I smiled and turned to him. “Yeah, sorry about that,” I parroted. “It’s all yours.”

Linking an arm with Aria, I dragged her out of the fitting rooms as we made our way back into the store proper and out towards the mall beyond.

The Crystal Emporium was a hub of activity for Canterlot, for both the wealthy and poor alike. Hardly a day passed that it wasn’t filled with shoppers, mall-walkers, and students once schools let out, as well as college students awaiting classes since it was the primary bus hub for the city.

It was also where I had agreed to meet my friends for a birthday lunch at a local Marexican place on the bottom level. It’s one of my favorite types of cuisine and Pinkie knew it so, naturally, she’d had the table reserved for ages.

“You sure you’re okay with this?” I asked, giving Aria’s hand a slight squeeze as we walked through the mall.

“I’m fine, Shimmer,” Aria said, rolling her eyes. “You wanna come out as stripper-sexual to your friends on your birthday then far be it from me to stop you.”

“Hey, that’s a little unfair,” I replied, frowning slightly. “You’re like, the most important person in my life right now… I want them to like you.”

Aria’s cheeks reddened a little as she shrugged. “Just don’t get your hopes up too much, okay Red? No promises that they’ll approve, not that I care.”

“I care,” I said quietly, and I heard Aria grumble incoherently from beside me. “Is it too much for me to ask you to care about it too?”

“Kinda,” Aria said evenly, and I grimaced. “Look, Shimmer, when you've lived as long as I have caring is a luxury, and you can’t just ask me to.”

“Can’t I?” I asked, my voice hardening a little.

Aria made a wordless growling sound in the back of her throat, but she didn’t let go of my hand. In fact, she held on tighter as if she were afraid I would be the one to let go.

“You said you loved me.”

“Oh come on!” Aria groaned loudly, drawing some looks from passersby. “You’re gonna play that card? Already? I literally just said it!”

I smirked a little. “What? Did you expect me to play fair?”

Aria’s voice descended into angry grumbling as she stared at the floor.

I saw the restaurant come into view around the corner a few moments later, and I knew they were all already there waiting by now. I’d told them I had a big announcement for them, and I’m pretty sure Rainbow already guessed it was that I had a girlfriend. She’d noticed several days ago that I'd been significantly more relaxed lately and, because she’s Rainbow Dash, she had immediately assumed it was because I was getting laid regularly.

I’m a little miffed that she was right about that, but I’d never admit it out loud.

“Okay, I’m gonna go in first, and then you come in when I introduce you, okay?” I said, smiling down at Aria who still looked annoyed. “Please behave, Aria.”

I half-expected her to scoff of something but, instead, she just sighed, shrugged her shoulders, and stared down for a few moments before saying:

“I’ll do my best.”

I felt a goofy smile split my face and I leaned down kiss her. I have never in my life had anyone I liked kissing more than Aria Blaze. There’s just something perfect about how she melts against me, about how her full cupids-bow lips taste, and about how she kisses me back with just as much passion as I kiss her.

“Okay, see you soon,” I said, fairly skipping away. “A-and… I love you.”

Aria’s cheeks reddened further and she pulled her hat down over her face.

I still heard her mumble back, “I love you too.”

The restaurant was done up heavily in warm, earthy tones. It had dark brown walls, antiqued tables with wooden chairs, and the smell of good food filled the air. The scent of cooking Marexican food always gets me hungry without fail.

Seated at one of the larger tables were my friends. Rarity and Applejack were seated right beside each other, their chairs scooted closer than the others as usual, while Pinkie practically vibrated in place at the head of the table. Twilight and Fluttershy were chatting on one end while Rainbow sat by not one but two empty chairs on another side of the table.

It seemed they had guess my intentions.

“Hey girls,” I called out, and they all looked up with broad smiles.

“Hey, there’s the birthday girl,” AJ drawled, grinning as she pushed a glass of iced tea my way. “A warm’n ‘appy birthday to ya, Sugarcube.”

“And many happy returns,” Rarity chimed.

“Happy Birthday!” Pinkie cheered, and confetti fell over my head from somewhere. I long ago stopped trying to locate their source. “How're classes?”

“Good, aced my midterms,” I replied, pulling out a chair by Dash and sitting down.

“Naturally,” Rainbow scoffed. “The only one with better grades than you is Twilight.”

“Hey, I’m a genius, not a savant.” I shot back, and Twilight giggled, an adorably cute sound.

“We’re so happy you could come out,” Fluttershy said quietly. “I feel like we haven’t seen you in ages.”

I laughed a little weakly. Hey, they weren’t wrong. I’d been spending most of... okay, all of my free time with Aria lately.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” I said, reaching out and putting a hand over Fluttershy’s. “But that’s part of my big announcement!”

“Lemme guess,” Rainbow said confidently. “Sunset Shimmer’s gettin’ her groove on with a new lady-friend?”

“Heh, uh, y-yeah,” I replied, unable to keep either the blush or the happy smile off of my face. “She’s really… incredible, honestly, I’m really happy.”

Rarity let out a delighted squeal at my lovestruck tone, and Applejack rolled her eyes a little, but she was smiling widely while she did. Twilight reached out and put a hand on my shoulder, her own calm smile telling me everything I needed to know about how happy she was for me.

“But darling, please,” Rarity leaned in conspiratorially, “you must tell us how you met.”

Mm, and here’s where things start to get complicated.

“Okay, well,” I began sheepishly, “as I’m pretty sure Rainbow Dash guessed… we met at the Last Note lounge.”

“Called it,” Rainbow said smugly, shooting me a pair of fingerguns.

I rolled my eyes, laughing a little. Somehow Rainbow never failed to make ‘cheesy’ come off as ‘endearing’.

“Yes, she did mention,” Rarity replied, “and how scandalous, but for the sake of my own curiosity, I have to ask: patron or… employee?”

I raised an eyebrow at that. Rainbow was waiting and watching expectantly, and there was an air of anticipation around Rarity that made me immediately suspicious. A dawning notion crested over my mind and I leaned in, eyeing the pair of them.

“Did you two…” I started, glancing between Rarity and Rainbow, “did you two make a bet?”

Rarity blushed, a pretty scarlet color that made her cheeks rosy as she pulled back in dramatic offense. “W-what? Why the sheer thought of-”

“Loser picks up the check for today,” Rainbow chirped with a smirk, earning a blazing glare from Rarity, “now c’mon, spill, stripper or nah?”

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t keep my own blush off of my cheeks. “It... it was one of the dancers.”

“Yahtzee!” Rainbow crowed, pumping her fists, “I knew you landed a stripper!”

“Well, fuck,” Rarity cursed smoothly, drawing a laugh from the table. “Fine, I suppose lunch is on me, then, well-played, Dash.”

“So are you gonna introduce us?!” Pinkie cheered, looking absolutely thrilled.

Moment of truth, I guess. I had asked Aria if she was okay with this but now that it came to it I couldn’t help wondering if I was okay with it. I wanted to be, but…

No, I wasn’t going to be ashamed of being with Aria. If they couldn’t be happy for me then, well, I’d burn that bridge when I came to it.

“S-sure, so… it’s actually someone we know,” I started as I pulled out my phone and shot a text to Aria telling her that she was good to come in. “So it’ll be more of a reintroduction.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware we knew any exotic dancers.”

“Well, actually you've never met her, Twi’,” I said, realising it was true. “This was just a bit before we all met during the Friendship Games, actually.”

I saw the rest of the group share glances. I could see the thoughts moving between them as they were trying to narrow the timelines in their minds and figure out who I was talking about. It was my twenty-fourth birthday, so prior to the Games would have made it several years ago.

“Sorry, Sugarcube, ah’m drawin’ a blank here,” Applejack said, leaning back in her chair and putting an arm over Rarity.

“Unfortunately I am as well,” Rarity admitted. “Was it someone we went to school with?”

“Uhm, yeah, briefly…” I replied with a weak laugh. Technically the Sirens had been enrolled as students for however short a span of time.

Fluttershy just shrugged and shook her head, while Rainbow visibly wracked her brains. I could see Pinkie across the table on the verge of apoplexy as she mentally cycled through her library of contacts to try and figure out who I could possibly be talking about.

That was when I caught the faint scent of lavender and mint in the air from behind me getting closer. Well… here we go, I stood up, pushing my chair back as I held out my hand behind me. I felt the familiar warmth of Aria’s slender fingers slipping between mine as she stepped up beside me. She still had her cap on, the bill lowered over her face, but her hair was unmistakable.

“Uh, girls, I’d, uhm… I’d like you to meet my girlfriend,” I turned, freeing my hand from Aria’s and slipping it around her waist as she raised her head to meet the eyes of my friends who all stared with various flavors of shock, “Aria Blaze.”

“Hey, nerds,” Aria said with a smirk, and I sighed.

“Best behaviour, Aria,” I muttered through the side of my mouth as quietly as possible, “please?”

Rainbow Dash stared, her jaw sliding off of the table and onto the floor as she looked between the two of us. Applejack looked… alarmed was probably the best term, while Rarity had a look of sharp scrutiny on her face. Twilight looked vaguely confused as to why Fluttershy was hiding behind her, and Pinkie looked like the human equivalent of a four-oh-four error happening in real time.

The silence was deafening, broken only the sounds of the other diners in the restaurant, as I waited for them to respond.

Aria glanced between everyone at the table, then chuckled and leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. “Well, I guess that could have gone worse, huh?”

“Uh… I mean,” Rainbow finally started, coughing to clear her throat, “I… guess since we gave Sunset a second shot and that worked out pretty okay… it’d be a pretty dick move not to give you one too, huh?”

Thank you, Rainbow Dash, you beautiful idiot.

Rainbow stood up and held out a hand. “Nice to re-meet you, Aria, guess your sisters are probably kicking around somewhere too, huh?”

“Actually they died of starvation after your magic horse laser took away our emotion-eating magic,” Aria said calmly and I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach, “I figured out a way around it before I carked it too, but it was too late for them.”

My friends looked utterly mortified. Pinkie’s hair had gone completely flat while Fluttershy was making incoherent squeaking noises. Applejack and Rarity both looked like they were about to throw up, and Rainbow just stood frozen in place with her hand out and looked as though a stiff breeze might knock her off her feet while Twilight looked like her eyes were about to fall out of her skull.

I slapped Aria across the back of the head.

“Are you serious?” I snapped. “Your sisters are just fine! Adagio called to threaten me this morning, like always! I want my friends to like you, you two-toned gibbering moron, not die of cardiac arrest!” I turned and put a hand over my face, breathing out slowly. “Adagio, Aria, and Sonata own the Last Note; Adagio is the general manager and lounge singer, Sonata does the books and tends the bar, and Aria here is the star dancer, alright? I swear we didn’t accidentally kill anyone, guys, my girlfriend just has a phenomenally shitty,” I hissed those words while shooting a withering glare at Aria, “sense of humor.”

Aria was roaring with laughter, holding her sides with one hand while rubbing the back of her head with the other. I massaged my temples, suddenly realising why I saw Adagio making that same motion so often.

“I am so sorry about that, girls,” I said grimly. “I love her to death, but I really should have known she’d pull something like that.”

After a moment, though, I realised that Aria wasn’t the only one laughing. Rainbow was practically on the floor cackling, although I’ll admit the rest of my friends didn’t look thrilled at Aria’s little joke.

“Oh man, that was perfect!” Rainbow gasped, “I really dead-ass bought that!”

Rainbow Dash you perfect goddamn idiot. I love you so much.

Finding her feet again, Rainbow Dash held her hand out one more time and this time Aria actually took it, looking exceptionally pleased that someone found her horrific prank amusing. She was going to be utterly intolerable after this, I knew.

Pinkie gave a weak chuckle as her hair began slowly reinflating, and Fluttershy looked like she’d straight passed out into the complementary salsa out of relief as Twilight just sighed and patted her shoulder calmingly. Applejack looked especially miffed but I understood; joking about dead sisters probably crossed a line for her. Rarity, on the other hand, just looked like she was eyeing the both of us very carefully.

“Sorry but… did I hear that right?” Rarity said, one delicate eyebrow inching towards her perfect coiffure. “You ‘love her to death’?”

Aria flushed and shot me a glare, and I suddenly realised how I was going to get her back. I grinned malevolently at Aria who paled and began backing away.

“S-Shimmer, let’s not do anything hasty here,” Aria said slowly, holding up her hands. “It was just a joke.”

I let a small, smug grin cross my lips as I closed the distance between us and took Aria's hands before shooting a look at Rarity whose eyes were widening.

“Oh yeah, I did definitely say that, and ya wanna see something else?” I asked playfully, and I felt Aria trying in vain to tug free of me. “Watch this.”

“Shimmer, don’t you fucking dare,” Aria hissed. “Not in front of everyone!”

Rarity leaned forward with a hungry look in her eyes, and even Applejack seemed invested as she leaned forward, looking less peeved and more interested.

I grinned and leaned forward. “Hey, Aria~”

“Don’t-” Aria started, leaning back.

“I love you.”

Aria clammed up and her face flushed bright red, and I could practically hear Rarity’s squee go hypersonic. Everyone was staring now as Aria leaned back, and I saw her swallow for a moment before mumbling something incoherent.

“Pardon?” I said with an ear-to-ear shit-eating grin, “I didn’t hear that.”

“I said…” Aria grumbled, her face completely red by this point, “t-that… I…”

“I’ll cry if you don’t say it,” I said quietly, my grin never wavering

Aria stiffened as she scowled, staring away from me towards the wall. “I… I love you too.”

“EEEEEEEEEEEE,” Rarity’s pitch practically rattled the glasses. “That. Was. ADORABLE!”

“I’m going to kill everyone here, and then myself,” Aria grumbled as I scooped her into my arms and pulled her into a kiss.

“Don’t do that,” I admonished playfully. “I literally just got you saying it, so I’m gonna milk it.”

“Ooh, just said it?” Pinkie chimed in happily. “Just today?”

Aria smirked and I felt a cold chill up my spine.

“Yup,” Aria replied, turning to Pinkie, “literally said it for the first time like an hour ago, right after we got done fucking in the Acie’s fitting room.”

“HAH!” Rainbow cackled, slapping my back as my face turned bright red. “Damn, girl, you are nasty!”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy had turned red too, but I could see her legs shifting under her seat.

Like I said. Freaky.

“Oh… that’s uhm… oh dear,” Rarity stammered, blushing, but Applejack was laughing too.

“Aw c’mon, Rares, ain’t like we ain’t got t’knockin’ in a few risky places,” AJ replied with a broad grin, and Aria raised both eyebrows.

“Darling,” Rarity hissed vehemently, “that is supposed to be private.”

“An’ it’ll be private,” Applejack assured her smugly, “right up til ya throw stones an’ Ah gotta stop ya on account’a our glass house, y’see?”

“Hah!” Aria snickered as she dropped into one of the open chairs. “Nice one, blondie, high five!”

Applejack rolled her eyes but accepted the offer and their hands clapped together as I sat down beside Aria.

To my surprise, lunch went pretty well after that. I had genuinely been expecting a lot more pushback on the idea of me dating a Siren but my friends seemed to be willing to give Aria the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

We had to fill Twilight in on the details of course, with her having joined our circle after the Battle of the Bands… Quill, almost seven years ago, she’d only gotten the cliff notes on the subject.

“Well at least they didn’t try to collapse the space-time continuum like I did,” Twilight said sheepishly. “I guess that counts for something right?”

Aria raised an eyebrow. “Damn, Doctor Doom, you don’t fuck around with your supervillainy huh?”

“I was a lot more impressionable back then,” Twilight grumbled. “Also Principal Cinch should never have had any influence over children, that woman was horrible.”

“I believe the term is ‘heinous bitch’, darling,” Rarity put in with a smile as she nuzzled against Applejack.

Maybe it was because Aria and I could rarely keep our hands off of each other for more than ten minutes, but at one point Aria had moved to my lap, and then shortly after that Rarity had followed suit with Applejack.

Naturally, AJ didn’t seem troubled by that in the least.

“Ooh, Ooh, Ari’! You should invite your sisters to our next shindig!” Pinkie chirped between mouthfuls of empanada. “I bet they could use some friends too!”

“Dunno, Pinks,” Aria replied, before interrupting herself to lean in and nip at my ear, drawing out a squeak. “My sisters are kinda busy, but you’re all welcome to come by the Note any time, I’ll tell security you’ve all got VIP passes.”

“That sounds nice,” Fluttershy said quietly, her cheeks coloring. “Are there any, uhm… specialty nights?”

Aria let out a low whistle and smirked. “We have a full event calendar online, Leather Night is the second Tuesday of every month though.”

I watched Fluttershy’s eyes widen, and an odd sort of smile flash over her face before it vanished.

“You were right,” Aria whispered into my ear, “she’s real freaky.”

“Right?” I hissed back.

Glancing down at her phone, Aria rolled her eyes and sat up from where she had been sprawled against me.

“A’right ladies, I gotta head out,” Aria said, stretching a little. “The Note opens up in less than an hour and I’ve got big girl work to do.”

“Aww, well thanks for coming!” Pinkie cheered, sweeping out of her seat one moment and then suddenly she was next to us hugging Aria. “I’m super glad you’re nice now!”

Aria grunted in surprise and patted Pinkie’s arm in a perfunctory manner. “Yeah, nice… wouldn’t necessarily go that far.”

Pinkie giggled then pranced back to her seat, leaving Aria staring at her hands for a moment before glancing back at me.

“Holy crap,” Aria muttered, “that girl’s like someone gave T&A two legs, thicc thighs, and a coke addiction.”

“And she's one of my best friends so be nice,” I chided Aria quietly.

“Oh I’d be real nice to her,” Aria said smirking as she got up and wiggled her fingers.

I felt a furious surge boil up from my gut at Aria’s words, and it must’ve showed on my face because Aria’s eyes widened slightly. Before I could think I was up and had her fingers gripped lightly in my hand.

Lightly, but unyielding.

“Touch anyone else with these,” I hissed, “and lose’em.”

Aria and I stared one another down for several moments, her eyes were wide with fury and mine were lit with jealous rage. The others must have a caught on to the atmosphere because they went silent and stared at us.

A grin slowly replaced Aria’s angry glare. “Fuck, you’re hot when you hate me.”

I grimaced. “I’ll never hate you, Aria… I-”

“Yeah, yeah, mushy stuff, I know,” Aria said with a laugh before leaning in and kissing me warmly.

I smiled against her lips, feeling my heart swell as I pulled her close, and I heard a soft ‘awww’ and a few cooing sounds from the girls as I gathered Aria up in my arms.

As we parted Aria stared up at me and I got that skipping feeling in my heart I get every time I looked into those beautiful gemstone eyes of hers.

“Alright, I’m outta here,” Aria said, pulling out of my arms. I was about to say the words when Aria glanced back at me and beat me to the punch. “Love you, Red.”

My mouth hung open, the words catching on my throat as I was wrong-footed.

“I… I love you too,” I said back after a second.

She shot me a wink and sauntered out of the store, giving her hips an exaggerated little sway for me on her way out.

“You know, as disturbing as some of that was to witness,” Rarity began as Aria exited the restaurant, “I must say I’m a little jealous of that kind of passion.”

“Ah ain’t passionate enough for ya, darlin’?” Applejack asked pointedly.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Of course you are my dear, I didn’t say I wanted that precisely, just that the idea was a little romantic,” then she looked up at me with a small frown of worry, “I must say though, Sunset, are you and Aria… alright? You looked positively livid for a moment there.”

“Yeah, Sunset, what gives?” Rainbow put in, “You looked like, crazy-jealous for a second.”

“I guess I am, a little,” I admitted, “but that’s just sort of how we both are, y’know?”

“I’m not exactly an expert here but is that healthy?” Twilight asked, leaning forward with a bit of concern touching her features.

“It’s fine,” I assured her, waving a hand. “Like I said, it’s just how we are.”

“If you say so,” Rarity replied a little uncertainly. “But, as the matter stands I too must depart! I’ve got work soon.”

“Same here,” Pinkie chimed, hopping up and grinning as she began tidying up the table.

“Uhm, Pinkie, isn’t that the employees' job?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“I’m a diner brat,” Pinkie explained, “I can’t help it!”

We shared a laugh and slowly everyone began filtering out. Pinkie took off with Fluttershy while Twilight headed to the buses to make her evening class.

Rarity was at the cashier paying when Applejack pulled me aside and gave me a pointed look.

“Sunset, Ah’m gonna ask flat out,” Applejack said evenly. “Are ya’ll sure about this?”

I furrowed my brow in annoyance. “Sure about what? About Aria?”

Applejack nodded.

“AJ I’m more sure about Aria than I am almost anything else in my life,” I said a little heatedly. “Besides, I got a second shot and so did Twilight and, objectively speaking, we both caused more damage than the Sirens ever did.”

Applejack raised her hands in a placating manner. “Ain’t about that,” she said quietly, “ya’ll got second shots ‘cause ya’ll were genuinely sorry ‘bout what ya did, and ya wanted to make it right.”

“So?” I asked, feeling a tense irritation building in my neck. “What’s your point?”

“Mah point,” Applejack said firmly, “is ya’ll were sorry, but I ain’t sure that gal’s ever been sorry for a dang thing in her life, and that’s a real long life we’re talkin’ ‘bout here.”

“I don’t care if she’s sorry,” I said, realising with a faint pang of guilt that I meant it, “can’t you just be happy that I’m happy?”

“Look, Sugarcube, ah’m pleased as punch ya’ll’re happy,” Applejack said softly, setting a hand on my shoulder. “But Ah got a bad feelin’ ‘bout this, hon, and I really think this thing ya’ll got is gonna hurt ya.”

“Please don’t do this AJ,” I pleaded, “please don’t make me choose between her and you guys… it would kill me.”

Applejack sighed. “Losin’ her would hurt that bad?”

I felt my voice catch in my throat, and my expression twisted. For a moment Applejack looked confused, like she was trying to figure out what the expression I was making even was.

Then it hit her.

“Oh,” Applejack muttered, going pale. “Ya’ll would… you’d choose-”

“I don’t want to choose, Jackie,” I snapped, “but I’m not leaving Aria, alright? Ever.”

“Ever’s a real long time, Sugarcube,” Applejack said darkly. “But yah, fine, ah’ll stick by ya, like always… even if it means just bein’ around t’pick up the pieces.”

“Is everything alright ladies?” Rarity’s musical voice spoke up as she approached. “You two look like death.”

“Fine’n dandy, darlin’,” Applejack said without looking away from me, “jus’ checkin’ in on Sunset, ya’ll ready t’go?”

“Indeed,” Rarity said, before shooting me a look that said she knew much more than she was saying. “And… Happy birthday, dear.”

“Thanks, Rares,” I said with a thin smile, “I love you girls, you know that right?”

Applejack sighed, but nodded and offered me a tired smile. Rarity just nodded and leaned in to hug me tightly.

“Take care of yourself, darling,” Rarity said softly. “We all love you so much.”

“Yeah,” I said, returning the hug. “I know.”

7. Armistice

“How long will you be gone?”

Aria smiled at me a little dolefully then socked me on the shoulder.

“Three days, four nights,” Aria said, trying to keep the smile on her face.

It was a little brittle and we both knew it.

I rocked back and forth on the small stone wall I was sitting on. The cold winter wind blew around us and snow was falling as per usual for Canterlot. This city got the full blast of the east ocean’s bitter chill, and every winter the snow came down in waves.

We were sitting side by side on the wall bordering the walkway of the CCU quad. I was between classes and Aria had met me for lunch, as she usually did… well, it was my lunch but her breakfast. She was bundled up in a coal-dark overcoat and purple scarf, both of which went down to her ankles, although she still had her green ballcap. I was wearing a white and red winter ensemble complete with a white coat, warm candy-cane striped leggings, gloves, and a scarf, that Rarity had put together for me. She’d given it to me for the price of materials as thanks for modeling it for her.

“It’s some kinda big lounge-owners convention stripper-palooza kinda thing, I guess,” Aria explained after a few moments of silence. “And ‘Dagi wants us to get our name out there to the wider world, not just Canterlot.”

“Why do you have to go?” I asked in a small voice, and I hated how whiny I sounded.

Two months.

Two months of being together, two months of being head over heels for this girl, two months of spending every moment we could together.

And now she was leaving for several nights.

I absolutely hated how much I hated that. The idea of falling asleep alone practically made me ill and it also made me feel like a clingy, whiny little bitch.

“I get ‘Dagi, because she’s the general manager,” I put up a finger, “and ‘Nata does the books so I guess I get that… but why are you going?”

“I’m the star dancer,” Aria explained, shrugging. “Apparently each lounge has their biggest star strut their stuff in a kind of competition on the second night and for the Note that’s me.”

“Oh,” I said softly.

I couldn’t really argue with that.

“You gonna be okay, Red?” Aria asked, her tone was playful but I could hear the concern in her voice.

“I’ll be fine,” I replied, waving a hand in what I hoped was relaxed nonchalance. “I’m a big girl, I can handle a few nights on my own.”

“Really?” Aria pressed, one eyebrow rising, “because you look pretty down.”

“I’m used to getting laid every night and then some,” I said with a laugh that was only slightly forced. “It’ll be a little lonely but I’ll be fine.”

Aria stared at me for a few moments, and I gave her a small smile.

“You’re worrying about me, aren’t you?” I asked quietly, and Aria practically flinched.

“I- I am not!” Aria snapped. “I just… I’m not going to be here so I…”

She stammered for a few more seconds then clamped her mouth shut and glared at the snowy ground.

“I’ll miss you like crazy, okay?” I said finally. “Is that what you want me to say? Because it’s true, because you’ll be gone and I love you, and I’ll want you to not be gone,” I laughed a little as I said the words and leaned to the side against Aria’s shoulder. “I’ll miss you, okay?”

Aria nodded, then said: “I’ll miss you too, Red.”

“It’s only a few days, though,” I said confidently. “I’m just worried about you getting enough to eat.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “I’ve been gorging myself for two months, Shimmer, I don’t even get hungry anymore which is nuts for a Siren.” She leaned against me, putting more of her weight against my shoulder. “I’ve got enough reserves that I could go a month without a bite and be fine.”

“I’d rather not miss you for a whole month,” I said with a heavy pout that I hoped hid how absolutely horrible that prospect sounded. “You’re sure you’ll be alright?”

Aria rolled her eyes. “Yes, you’ve given me enough to get me through a three day fast, I’ll be fine. You?”

“Yeah,” I said quietly as I leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips. “I’ll be fine.”

I am not fine.

I drove Aria to O'Mare International, saw her to her flight, kissed her goodbye, even got hugs and kisses from Adagio and Sonata who were weirdly starting to treat me like a family member, and then went to the airport bathroom and promptly had a panic attack.

My brain filled with images of Aria’s plane going down, or her getting in a car accident in Detrot, or getting hurt some other awful way. I threw up twice before I managed to get my anxiety under control. Technically three times but, by that point, there wasn’t anything left to toss up, so I managed to keep it to gut-clenching dry-heaves.

It was another hour before I got back to the dorm, and I was surprised to find Twilight there sitting in one of the easy chairs watching tv: some sci-fi drama by the look of it. She glanced up to greet me but I must've looked a fright because her greeting died alone and forgotten somewhere in her throat.

“H-Hey Twi’, what’s up?” I tried to sound cheery but my throat was raw. “No class?”

Twilight looked up at me with concern for a few moments before carefully shaking her head.

“No, it got canceled, the professor is snowed in,” Twilight said, then gave me more a scrutinizing look. “Are you okay? You, uh… okay, I’m not gonna lie Sunset, you look like crap.”

“Uh, yeah, I’m fine,” I said, shrugging. “I just had a bad day… i-it’s nothing, though, I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” Twilight pressed, her normally sedate voice become heated as she stood and stalked over to me. “You look like death warmed over! Don’t lie to me and-” she flinched back and wrinkled her nose as she got close. “Sunset, did you throw up?”

I grimaced, I had hoped to make it to the bathroom and gargle some mouthwash before it got to this.

“It’s nothing,” I repeated more firmly, taking a step back. “My stomach was upset.”

Twilight’s expression grew harder.

“I may not be the Element if Honesty, Sunset, but I know a half-truth when I hear one,” Twilight closed the distance again and narrowed her eyes. “Where’s Aria?”

I flinched and Twilight squinted angrily. “I knew it had to do with her.”

“What’s your problem?!” I snarled, my cheeks reddening. “I told you I’m fine!”

Twilight took a step back and held up her hands in placation.

“Except you’re not,” Twilight pressed. “I’m not blind, Sunset, and you know I’m not stupid. There’s no nice way to say this but you like a junkie who missed their fix.”

I shivered and shook my head. “That’s really hyperbolic.”

“Is it?” Twilight asked, never taking her eyes from me. “You’re shivering and pale-”

“It’s cold outside,” I snapped.

“-and you look like you haven’t eaten in a while,” Twilight finished.

“Yeah well, like you said: I threw up,” I said angrily.

Twilight sighed, took my hands, and I realized I must have been freezing because she felt like a furnace. “Sunset, I love you like a sister and I want you to be happy but this thing with Aria…”

“Don’t!” I snarled, trying to pull back but Twilight held on with surprising strength. “Don’t make this about her! It has nothing to do with-”

“She’s killing you, Sunset!” Twilight cried.

“She’s keeping me alive!” I lashed out, finally ripping my hands from Twilight who backed up looking stricken.

“You have no idea,” I hissed, “how miserable I was before her, how empty I felt,” I wrapped my arms around myself and started to shake. “You have no idea how lonely I was… I cried myself to sleep half the time because I felt so alone.”

“S-Sunset, why didn’t you say something?” Twilight whispered, reaching out a hand unsteadily.

I pulled away.

“Because it wouldn’t matter,” I said bitterly. “None of you could give me what I needed… it wasn’t fair to ask, or to make any of you feel bad because you couldn’t do anything.”

“You know better than I do that’s not how friendship works,” Twilight said softly.

“I didn’t need friendship,” I sobbed, still shaking. “I needed someone to touch me, I needed someone to want me, to love me!”

Twilight stared, looking pained and lost for words.

“I know you girls love me,” I said, my voice shallow and ghostly. “But… sometimes it’s just not enough, y'know?” I let out a cracked sob. “And I know that Aria will never leave me… I know she’ll always want me and that she’ll always come back to me. I know that I’m just that important to her.”

“Sunset you say that like-” Twilight began, trailing off weakly.

I shrugged.

“I’ve always been the disposable one…” I said, finally putting to words what I’d never dared to voice. “That mess that one Christmas back in high school pretty much confirmed it.”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to flinch.

It was an incredibly sore topic and no one brought it up if it could be helped. Twilight hadn’t been there for it personally but she had heard what had happened after the fact. That's why she was the only one I'd ever talked to about what it had done to me; about the scars it had left behind.

“I know that Aria would never do that,” I said finally. “Not like everyone else…”

“I never left you,” Twilight said softly, “you saved me, Sunset.” Reaching out, she took my hand again. “And I want to save you… so please listen to me…”

“Don’t…” I begged, “don’t do this to me, Twi’.”

“She is using you, Sunset,” Twilight said firmly. “Aria isn’t a human, she’s not even a predator, she’s a parasite!” I felt my rage building but Twilight kept going. “She has you completely dependent on her! You hardly do anything without her! She’s got you hooked on something and it’s tearing you apart!”

“It's not like that, you don't know the whole story!” I bit the words out shakily.

“She doesn’t care about you-”

“Stop!”

“She doesn’t lo-”

I ripped my hand from her grip and slapped her.

Twilight stared at me in shock, her cheek taking on a reddening tinge from where I hit her. We both stared, eyes wide at what I’d just done. I’d never raised a hand against Twilight in my life, and now…

The guilt was swallowed by a boiling tarpit of rage welling up my throat from somewhere in my guts, though. I’d talked to Twilight about my fears and my insecurities, she knew what those words would do to me. She knew how scared I was of losing people, and of people lying about being my friend… about caring for me.

“You don’t get to do that to me,” I said in a hollow voice. Tears were streaming from my eyes. “You know how bad my anxiety is… you know how easy it is for me to imagine people leaving me… you don't get to try and make me believe Aria would leave me too.”

“Sunset I didn’t mean-”

“Get out,” I said softly, looking down at the floor and away from her. “Get the hell away from me.”

Tears trickled slowly down Twilight’s cheeks, and she nodded.

“I… I’m sorry,” she sobbed as she moved around me, stopping only to snatch up her shoes. “I love you, Sunset, I’m… I’m sorry…”

“Don’t,” I muttered, not turning around. “Just go away.”

I wrapped my arms back around myself and started to shake as I heard Twilight leave, closing the door.

I’d just hit one of my best friends in the face.

Part of my brain was shrieking at me to chase her down. To apologize and beg her forgiveness. The problem was that I wasn’t sure what part of my brain that was. I didn’t know if that was the sane part of my brain trying to run damage control on a huge mistake, or if it was the anxiety-ridden and terror-fueled part of my brain desperately trying to keep my neurotic fears of abandonment from coming true.

I took a deep breath and focused on the facts.

One: Aria loved me.

That was the first fact that popped to mind and I knew it like I knew I needed oxygen to breathe. I didn’t know how to explain it but I could feel it.

It was irrelevant though, my mind told me, and for a moment I rebelled against that thought. Nothing about Aria was irrelevant, nothing!

I took another breath and started again.

Two: Twilight… hadn’t meant to hurt me. I knew that too, just as firmly.

She had taken a step too far, but… she wanted to protect me because she was scared for me. She had seen me falling apart in a bad way and had jumped to conclusions and it had bit both of us in the ass.

Three: Twilight had hurt me, and badly.

More tears joined the bitter, salty tracks that were traced down my cheeks. She hadn’t meant to but Twilight had taken a metaphorical knife and lodged it deep into a place where I was vulnerable.

Four: I needed sleep.

I sagged in place, sobbing quietly as I trudged to my bedroom.

It was only six in the evening by this point but I felt like I’d been awake for two days. A part me wished I had been, both so I could have a legitimate reason for feeling this bad, and because that would mean Aria would be back sooner.

Aria.

I let out another hacking sob as I remembered how empty my bed was going to be tonight. There would be no familiar, slender warmth wrapping herself around me. No waking up to soft butterfly kisses on my neck.

No whispered ‘I love you's’.

I could call her… but she was in Detrot and she was busy. I couldn’t just stay on the phone with her forever, as tempting as that sounded, but maybe…

Collapsing into bed, I pulled my phone out and hit the speed dial for Aria. I waited as it rang over and over, eventually going to voicemail.

‘You got you-know-who, and if you don’t know who then delete this number or I’ll track you down and delete your kneecaps, and if this is you, Red? I love you.’

I violently hit the end-call button before the beep because if I didn’t then all Aria would be getting would be a baffling five-minute voicemail of me crying hysterically over the phone. I briefly thought about calling again and leaving a message but after that, there was no way I was gonna get through two words without breaking down.

Instead, I gathered up my blankets and trudged back out to the living room, dropped into the chair, and turned on webflix. I flipped on an old black-and-white, a noir film that Aria and I both loved, and tried to get to sleep.

Six hours and two movies plus credits later I was forced to accept that I couldn’t sleep.

Not without Aria.

I had cried a half-dozen times, half of them out of loneliness and half over the fight with Twilight.

Between the movies, I’d sent AJ and Rarity a text asking them to check up on Twi’ and explaining a little of what happened, but I also told them to stay away. I wasn’t in the right headspace to talk to anyone face to face and I didn’t want to explode on them. I needed some time alone, to heal and to put myself back together, but more than anything I needed Aria.

For what it’s worth, they both promised they’d do what they could, but they asked me to keep in touch at least, and I promised I would.

Half an hour after that, a pizza had arrived at my door: barbecue chicken and red onions, my favorite kind, with a little note on it: a lightning bolt filled in with rainbows.

Bless your idiot heart, Rainbow Dash.

I ate a little, watched more tv, and that brought me to midnight and the annoying fact that I wasn’t going to be getting to sleep.

Not without…

I blinked and sat up as a crazy idea crept into my head. It was definitely something a psycho stalker would do and as much as I didn’t want to be that… I was sort of already there with Aria.

Moving quickly, my exhaustion dissipated by motivation, I grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulder, pulled on my warmest clothes including my winter jacket and my beanie, then I lit off into the hallway and down the stairs praying there was still a bus running past midnight.

As it happened: there was not, but rather than give up like a reasonable person in subzero temperatures I instead chose to walk and let me tell you it was miserable beyond description.

The winds were blowing in force and the snow hammered at me. I pulled my scarf close and my hat down and the part of my brain that I’m certain was the sane part this time around screamed at me that this was the dumbest most reckless thing I’ve ever done including jamming a magical crown on my head and trying to take over an alternate dimension with mind-controlled teenagers.

I knew that I could literally freeze to death out here, I’d lived in a warehouse for almost three years before scraping together enough for an apartment, and prior to that I'd been homeless, so I knew Canterlot winters like an abusive ex. And yet, somehow, that idea was still slightly more palatable than going back to my empty, Aria-less, dorm.

Against all odds, I made it to the Last Note.

It was past three in the morning and I was shivering like a wet puppy as I made my way through the mostly-empty parking lot.

At the door I spied Backstage ushering the last few patrons out, most of them stumbling drunk towards cabs, and he looked to be preparing to lock up.

Still shivering violently, I stumbled up to him clutching my backpack in numb hands.

“Miss Shimmer?” Backstage stared at me in shock as he recognized me under all my layers. “Sorry, but Lady Blaze is-”

“I-In D-Detrot, I know,” I said, stuttering over my words.

“Did you… walk here?”

I gave him a fragile and sheepish grin.

“Good lord, girl,” Backstage shook his head in disbelief. “Well, I figure ya need somethin’?”

“Can… can I c-come in?” I asked quietly.

Backstage’s lips hardened to a thin line. “Lemme check in.”

I gave him a hopeful smile and nodded as he pulled the miniature walkie on his shoulder strap to his mouth and spoke into it in a low voice. It crackled a few times, and I heard someone respond, but not with what words.

After a moment of nodding and replying, Backstage gave me a short nod to go in.

I shuffled past him to the lobby and gasped softly at the feeling of warm air. My whole body prickled horribly as feeling began to return but I didn’t have time to consider the discomfort as Tempest Shadow approached me, her usual sharp suit straining to hold her muscular figure.

“Buenas Noches, Miss Shimmer,” Tempest said, her smooth, rich accent coloring her words. “What can I do for you?”

I blew out a breath. Here goes nothing.

“I was hoping you could, uhm… let me into Aria's room,” I said in a tone of voice that was a lot more fragile than I liked. “P-please?”

Tempest eyed me carefully for several moments. Her sharp gaze traveling over my bedraggled figure, taking in my shaking legs that were still weary from the long walk, my numb hands, and my almost blue lips.

Then she sighed softly. “You must miss her very much to be here like this.”

I let out a tiny, broken hiccup as I tried very hard not to cry.

I was so tired.

“Very well, follow me,” Tempest said finally. “I doubt Lady Blaze will object, and if she hears I turned you down it will be my ass.”

“Thank you so much!” I cried, feeling my heart swell as I followed behind her.

She led me back through the VIP section and towards the small door at the rear of the stage. I couldn’t help recalling how hesitant I had been when I'd first crossed that threshold, and it actually made me laugh a little.

We went down the short set of stairs and to the second door on the left, and Tempest drew out a set of keys and fitted one of them to the lock. The door slid open and Tempest nodded for me to enter, passing me the key as she did.

“I’ll trust you to return that,” Tempest said sternly, then turned on her heel, and left, her footfalls making almost no noise which I still found disconcerting for someone that big.

I palmed the key as I stepped inside Aria’s room and suddenly my world was righted again, not completely but enough, as I was surrounded by her scent.

Her colors.

Her.

Lavender and mint was everywhere, only faintly though, but enough that it was permeating everything in the room. I felt myself relax as I shot a grateful smile back at the empty doorway before I closed the door. I dumped my things off by the bed, stripped out my clothes, then ran to the shower to stand under the hot water for a while as I forced feeling back into my numbed extremities.

I stepped out of the shower about twenty minutes later, drying myself off as I did, then walked back into the room and burrowed under the covers of Aria’s bed. The sheets and blankets were warm and soft, and if I tried I could imagine Aria was about to join me.

She wasn’t, of course, and I knew it. I'd had a long a terrible day, though... my girlfriend that I was maybe literally madly in love with was a few hundred miles away, one of my best friends was mad at me, and all of my other friends were worried sick.

But I couldn't do anything about any of that right now, so instead I decided to do what any reasonable young adult woman would do in my situation: I pulled one of the big, poofy pillows into my arms, buried my face against it, took a deep breath…

And I cried myself to sleep.

A knock came at my door and I looked up.

I’d come back to my dorm after sleeping like a lump of stone at the Note mostly because Finals were creeping up in a handful of weeks and I needed to prepare. Tempest had let me keep the key to Aria’s room for the time being even though she’d told me to return it, and even went so far as to get me a ride back to campus from one of the Note's small fleet of vehicles they use for private escort services.

I really need to get her something by way of thanks.

“Door’s open,” I called, taking a sip of my coffee then grimacing as I realized it had gone cold while I’d been going over my programming notes.

The door creaked open and Applejack stepped in with a slightly worried look on her face.

“Hey there Sugarcube,” Applejack said quietly before holding up a paper bag. “Mind if I join ya? Brought us some breakfast.”

I smelled apple fritters and muffins, and my stomach growled. That sounded way better than the slightly burnt toast I was eating.

“Food bribes are always welcome,” I said jokingly.

AJ smiled warmly before stepping briefly into the kitchen to grab some plates, then took a seat across from me, dishing out a muffin and fritter to both of us. I snatched up the muffin first and took a large bite, it was apple cinnamon and I knew immediately from the quality that it wasn't from Applejack’s kitchen.

It was from Ditzy’s. Written’s Quill but that woman makes the best muffins.

“So… Rares and I talked t’Twilight…” Applejack began, and I grimaced as I took a small bite of fritter next.

“Yeah?” I said brusquely.

“Look, I ain’t gonna beat ‘round the bush,” she continued, shaking her head. “We’re all a mite worried ‘bout ya, Sunset. Have been for a while…”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” I said, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice. “I’m doing fine… better than fine actually.”

“You ain’t lookin’ it, Sugarcube,” Applejack replied, leaning back in her chair. “I ain’t sayin’ one way or t’other on this yet, a’right? I’m just sayin’ what I’m seein’.”

“And what are you seeing, Jackie?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

She sighed. “I’m seein’ my friend gettin’ swallowed up by this relationship… she ain’t takin’ time for herself or anyone else for that matter.”

Applejack met my gaze and I didn’t see any of the fear or judgment in her eyes that I’d seen in Twilight’s the night before.

Just the usual stolid, unyielding resolve of the Apple clan’s eldest daughter.

I let out a slow breath.

“What I have with Aria is… weird and unusual, okay?” I said after a few moments. “I’ll grant you that, and I’ll grant you that I should probably spend more time with you girls, it’s just… it’s so easy to get caught up with her, but that’s not Aria’s fault, okay? That’s part of what made me so mad last night.”

“Whadya mean?” Applejack asked softly.

I grimaced. “I mean everything thing Twilight threw at me, everything she blamed Aria for… it’s not Aria… it’s me.”

“Twilight’s under the impression you’n Aria are gettin’ into drugs and the like,” Applejack said, and I let out a harsh bark of laughter.

“Yeah that sounds like Twilight,” I said thinly. “Nope, nothing but good old fashioned brain-made dopamine… I can’t say I’m not addicted to her though,” I leaned back in my chair and laughed, “maybe that’s why I looked like a junkie last night, I was going through Aria withdrawal.”

“No drugs? No nothing?” Applejack asked flatly.

I shook my head. “We go out drinking sometimes but even that’s not all that common, so no, nothing like that.” Then I chuckled a little acidly. “Actually if I’m being real with you? I drank more when I was with Rainbow Dash, and it was probably for unhealthier reasons.”

Applejack looked me in the eye for a moment longer, then seemed to relax.

“Thank the lord for that, then,” Applejack said softly. “Ain’t gonna lie, I wondered…. but I also trusted you… wasn’t til the fight with Twilight that I figured I oughta step in.”

“Yeah well, I may be sorry that I lost my temper, and I’m definitely sorry that I lashed out, but…” I shook my head again, “Written’s Quill, Jackie, Twilight had it coming… she said some really shitty things.”

“Like?”

“Aria doesn’t love you,” I quoted, my face twisting bitterly.

Applejack winced. “Yeah a’right tha’s goin’ a mite far, but answer me this: I ain’t sayin’ she don’t love ya, Sugarcube, but how d’ya know she does? No offense but sayin’ it don’t count… a body can say a thing an’ not mean it.”

I stared down at my notes for a few more moments, then gathered them up and pushed them away. I got up to get more coffee, refilling Applejack’s cup too, then took another apple fritter and munched on it as I met Applejack’s eyes.

“Remember the carnival down at the pier a few weeks back?” I asked after a moment, and Applejack gave me a sidelong glance but nodded. “Aria and I went there on a date, okay?”

“Seems pretty normal,” Applejack allowed. “How’s that answer my-”

“I’m getting there,” I cut her off. “So as we’re heading there Aria is just endlessly bitching about how lame carnivals are, and how they’re all just kid stuff, and it gets to the point that I’m regretting ever asking her to come out to it, right?”

“O~kay,” Applejack drawled but didn’t say anything more.

“So we get there, and I’m already feeling like I fucked up,” I said quietly, “Tartarus, I was about to offer to turn around and just hope she didn’t see me cry a little at how bad I had screwed up, and…” I smiled a little at the memory, “and as I look up I realise it’s showing on my face… she sees the look on my face and without another word she proceeds to drag me around to the entire carnival, winning me a prize at every, single, booth.”

Applejack’s eyes widened a little at that.

“It was the cutest thing,” I said, chuckling a little. “We had been all over the pier by the end of the night, ate the worst junk food, and my arms were overflowing with stuffed animals and random trinkets.” I was laughing and maybe crying a little as I retold the story. “Except from the strength bell! Aria is tough but she’s too short and built for speed, not power right? The girl's got no leverage, so she couldn’t get it to the top even after a dozen tries!”

We both shared a laugh and I couldn’t stop grinning at the memory of Aria getting increasingly frustrated to the point of swearing fluently in a language I'm certain wasn't from Earth. One thing I learned being with Aria was that you had to really make an effort to get her to curse in Sirenic.

“So, anyway, eventually I just stepped up, grabbed the hammer, took one giant swing and shot it straight up to the top!” I cheered, then took another bite of fritter and washed it down with more coffee.

“All those weekends helpin’ out on the Acres really paid off, huh?” Applejack said with a laugh.

“Yeah, it did,” I agreed, flexing one arm with a smirk. “So, when I picked out a prize, I got her this big, bright red seahorse plushie the same shade as my hair, and do you know what she named it?!”

“Aria Blaze named her plushie?” Applejack said with a tone of disbelief and I nodded. “A’right, hit me… what’d she name it?”

“Hippocrampus the Period Demon,” I deadpanned.

Applejack snorted and let out a bark of laughter that turned into knee-slapping cackles.

“She did not!” Applejack gasped out.

“Yup, apparently Sirens in their native form don’t get periods or anything,” I said, shaking my head. “So you can imagine how thrilled they were the first time that happened to their mortal bodies.” Applejack winced and nodded. “Aria had, according to her, compared it to having her guts shoved full of angry spiny seahorses, and the plushie had reminded her of it.”

“That’s kinda gross, Sugarcube,” Applejack said, still wheezing a little with laughter.

“But my point leads to this: look!” I reached to the side and grabbed my wallet, pulling out a set of three pictures attached in a column. “At the end of the night, we went to a photo booth… here, just be careful with them.”

Applejack set her food down, wiped her hands, and took the photos gingerly, and her eyes widened a little at what was on them.

All three were of Aria and me; in the first one we had our cheeks pressed together, smiling broadly at the camera, and in the second one we were pulling faces at it.

In the third, we had meant to snap it just as we kissed but, as usual when it came to kissing each other, got overzealous and overshot it a little, and it took the picture the instant after.

In the picture, Aria and I were staring into each other’s eyes; my smile was dreamy, my eyes still half-closed, and my nose was nuzzling hers. Aria’s smile was soft, gentle, and her cheeks were dimpled with happiness.

But it was Aria’s eyes that stopped my heart every time I looked at the picture and I knew that it was her eyes that caught Applejack’s breath too.

There was no lust, and none of that demeaning cockiness or contemptuous laughter in them that anyone else who knew her would have expected. Instead, in that instant, Aria’s eyes were full of warmth and care and love, and it almost made her look like a completely different person.

“You see it?” I asked quietly.

Applejack nodded, and all she said by way of reply was: “Eeyup.”

“Feel better about us now?” I asked.

“Guess I do,” Applejack said, passing the pictures gently back to me. “And I’m powerful sorry I doubted ya, Sugarcube.”

“It’s okay,” I replied. “At least you gave me a chance to tell my side of it first.”

“Ye~ah, I’m gonna go have a talk with Twi’,” Applejack said as she stood up and stretched. “Try not to hold it against her too bad though, Sugarcube… y’all know she was tryin’ her best and only actin’ outta love.”

“I know,” I said softly. “It just… hurts too much right now, y’know?”

“Eeyup, that I do,” Applejack said solemnly before reaching out and giving my hand a friendly squeeze. “We’ll talk later, hon, and don’t be a stranger.”

“I don’t think I could get stranger if I tried,” I said with a small laugh that Applejack shared.

As she reached the door, Applejack turned back to me, frowning as she met my eyes. “You really gonna be alright, Sugarcube? You still look like a mile’a bad road.”

I shrugged. “It’s only three more nights,” I replied. “Being away from Aria hurts like a bitch but she’ll be back soon, so yeah, I’ll be fine.”

Applejack nodded again, smiled, and left.

I might have mentioned prior to this but I was not fine. ‘Hurt like a bitch’ was an understatement of titanic magnitude. But it wouldn’t do any good to bring it up, so I ignored it, went to class, and then went back to the Note and cried myself to sleep again for the second time.

At least that time I got a ride to the Note instead of trudging through the snow, though.

The next day was grayer and duller than the last. I found myself idly thinking about how lucky it was that Aria hadn’t left during finals week because I could not identify a single specific thought that I'd had all day and that would not be conducive to an exam atmosphere.

I moved slowly through the dorm room, tidying things up, getting them ready for tomorrow, and making myself some food.

I think it was soup, but I honestly don’t remember.

Whatever it was, I finished it, washed the bowl and spoon, then set them on the plastic rack to dry.

The whole world was gray and sludgy as I did my tasks, and I had to keep reminding myself that I only had one more day and two more nights before Aria was back in my arms.

One more day, two more nights. One more day, two more nights. One more day, two more nights. One more day, two more nights.

It became a mantra as I finished packing up my backpack. I was just about to dial the Note’s number and ask them to send the car around again when I heard a cacophony of noise hammering down the hallway like someone had let loose a herd of irate Great Danes and told them to ‘sic-em!’.

The noise stopped with a resounding THUD directly on my door that shook the entire thing in its frame and made me nearly leap out of my skin in shock, followed by the strangest sort of scratching; a kind of sharp, scuffing noise like someone was scraping at the metal lock with a needle.

I knew that sound. I'd made that sound back in my good old bad days. That was the sound of someone picking a lock, the lock to my dorm room door specifically. Rather than be alarmed I just walked over to it, slightly impressed at the sheer audacity of it, and clicked the lock open.

The scratching stopped just as I cracked open the door to see a frazzled, frantic, and out-of-breath Aria kneeling at the door next to a carry-on bag while holding a pin and torsion rod, and staring up at me.

I blinked in shock.

She was wearing her lime green ballcap and a loose leather jacket dyed purple with aqua highlights. Aria’s hair was a mess; matted to her head by snowmelt and clinging to her face where it had blown by the wind. Her cheeks were flushed from the frigid winter air, and she was breathing hard.

I saw her swallow, lick her lips, and then grab her stuff and pitch it into the room past me, torsion rod and all which, I think, went skittering under the couch.

“Aria?” I said softly. “You… you’re ba-”

Not to belabor the obvious, but stating that she was back early was literally all my brain had the power for at that moment and Aria didn’t even let me finish that.

She shouldered her way into my room, kicked the door closed, and grabbed my face to pull me down into a desperate kiss.

“I love you-” she gasped, but barely had the last word out before she was kissing me again, “-I love you-” more kisses, “-I love you!”

My knees turned watery and went out from under me, and Aria followed me down until we were just clinging to each other. I shook and sobbed and tried to say ‘I love you’ back but, I’ll be honest: all I vaguely remember is sinking to the ground clutching onto her, kissing her, and just weeping like a bitch, and I half expected Aria to crack a snide joke about it.

Instead, Aria just started crying too.

We laid there on the floor of the dorm room wrapped around each other, not willing to move for fear of not being in complete contact with one another.

There was no reason to ask why Aria was home a day and two nights ahead of her sisters.

You don’t bother to ask a junkie why they’re shaking, after all.

“I missed you so much,” I cried, clinging to Aria and pressing my face against the crook of her shoulder. “I had to be in your bed just to get any sleep… I cried every night, and I-”

“Ssh, I know,” Aria whispered around lips that were damp with tears as she buried her face in my hair. “Me too, I… I’ve been a mess since I left you in the airport… the only way I got through the dance competition was Sonata telling me to pretend I was dancing for you.”

I smiled and let out a hiccuping laugh.

“D-Did you win?” I asked, my voice cracking with a touch of hysteria.

Aria nodded, biting her lip as she shook with a fit of giggles.

Then she kissed me again and I melted against her. My whole world had felt like a faulty chainsaw that I’d been pulling at the cord for ages to start it up only for the engine to just roar to life without warning.

My hands slipped over her body and my fingers found all the familiar curves and grooves of her skin. I let my hands follow those graceful shoulders down to the smooth hills of muscle along her back all the way to the delicate slopes of her gorgeous legs.

Taking a grip, I pulled her close and stood up, and Aria latched onto me, her arms around my neck and draped over my shoulders and her legs locked around my waist. I had a firm grip on her rear end as I carried her to my room.

She wordlessly flailed at her bag as I passed it and I grudgingly pulled one hand off of her to grip it and slide it into the room ahead of us.

I didn’t bother with the lights, I just dropped us both onto the bed and kissed every exposed patch of skin I could reach as Aria writhed beneath me.

Normally Aria and I tended to jockey for control in bed, that was part of what made sex with her so much fun, but not this time. This time I was the ravenous one and Aria was the one starved for touch. I pulled her jacket and shirt off and tossed them away, her bra, skirt, and panties went next.

I trailed her now-naked body with kisses, and she twisted under my fingers. I wanted to drown myself in the feeling of her body, and deep down I knew she wanted the same thing from me.

So I did the next best thing.

I pulled my clothes off, throwing them haphazardly away from the bed, and then slung myself over Aria, my knees on either side of her shoulders and my dripping pussy over her face.

Gripping her legs, I lowered myself to lick and taste her at the same moment she took hold of me to return the favor. In moments we were curled around each other, our tongues slipping in and out of each other, and the soft sounds of moans filled the bedroom.

Maybe it was just the lack of Aria being near me for over two days, but I swear she tasted sweeter than ever. As my tongue found her hood and clit, I worked my fingers into her gently and she let out a shuddering moan as liquid splashed across my lips.

I felt two of her fingers slipping into my cunt and two into my ass and I let out a harsh, sudden gasp of pleasure.

Aria knew where all of my buttons were and just how hard and how fast to press them. I could feel how desperate she was for me because it was at least as much as I was for her.

Without warning, Aria locked her legs around my head and flipped me over so I was in my back, and she straightened out. The full press of her hips were planted over my face and the instant she was stable Aria began grinding her pussy against my face and I moaned softly.

“Fuck yes,” Aria hissed, her hips bucking, “moan for me, Red, you know I love it when you make that sound…”

I did know. I knew it drove her crazy and I absolutely loved doing it to her.

She lowered herself back down and started licking at me again and I jerked and gasped as she slid her tongue against my sensitive folds.

After a few moments the both of us collapsed to a shuddering climax before going limp, still clinging to each other in a tangle of limbs.

Leadenly, I turned over and straightened out so I was laying beside Aria the right way up. She was bent over the side of the bed fishing for something in her bag, so I took the opportunity to lean in and give her pert ass a little love bite.

Aria squealed and toppled over the edge of the bed to the sound of peals of laughter from me.

When she stood up I was expecting her to be fuming. Instead, she was blushing and rubbing her rear with one hand while the other gripped a familiar tangle of straps.

I gave Aria a smoky smile and turned over a little, spreading my legs enough to give her a look.

To my surprise she shook her head silently, started to say something, and then seemed to choke on it, her face flushing a darker red.

“Ari’?” I said softly, “what’s-”

Aria pushed the strap-on towards me by way of response.

I stared down at it in shock and surprise, then looked back up at Aria who was slinking back onto the bed and curling up beside me.

“Are… are you sure?” I asked in a gentle voice.

“Yeah,” Aria replied, her tone uncharacteristically subdued. “I want you to… so c’mon Red, don’t keep me waiting here.”

I nodded and sat up, slipping my legs through the straps and cinching them comfortably secure before sliding the purple dildo into place and pushing the first half inside me.

“Ah… fuck,” I hissed, clenching around it as I got used to its presence.

Then I looked down at Aria, and the sight took my breath away.

She was laying on her back beneath me, looking up at me with pleading eyes. Her hands were resting gently on my shoulders and her legs were already hitched up and ready to accept me. I felt my jaw drop open slightly as I stared into those perfect jewels of hers, and swallowed thickly.

“You ready?” I asked in as tender a tone as I could.

“Yeah,” Aria said quietly. “I want you to take me, Red… like no one else has…”

I blinked in shock. “N-no one?”

Aria blushed. “Not like this… I told you: I’m always on top.”

“Even with the guys that you-”

“Always,” she repeated firmly.

Okay, that’s kinda hot.

I nodded and lowered myself down slowly until I had her smaller form wrapped in my arms. I pressed the tip of the toy to her entrance and I could feel the slickness as it slid over her slit, teasing her, and drawing out a few ragged gasps of pleasure.

I kissed her softly as I thrust my hips a few more times, I wasn’t going to be anything but utterly gentle with her, and I certainly wasn’t going forward until I knew it wouldn’t hurt her.

“Just do it, Shimmer,” Aria gasped, “please… I need you.”

That sent a shiver up my spine, and I felt a surge of lust and passion ignite somewhere near my belly. Looping my fingers through her tangled hair, I pressed my lips to hers as I angled my hips forward and pressed in.

Aria let out a startled cry and gripped my shoulders hard with her hands even as her legs clamped against my hips, almost jerking me off balance.

“It’s okay,” I cooed as I pulled her against me and slid another inch deeper, “I’ve got you.”

Aria nodded almost frantically against my shoulder and I was struck by just how small and fragile she felt in that moment. The middle sister of the Siren’s and my personal favorite of them (entirely unbiased I assure you) had always been the loudest, brashest, and most belligerent of them. Words like ‘fragile’ and ‘small’ simply didn’t apply to someone like her.

Except… tonight they did.

She was scared, I could feel it, but she also wanted this. The fact that Aria trusted me with this… I didn’t really have words for it.

I just pulled her a little closer and slid a little bit deeper, and Aria let out a small moan of pleasure that she muffled against my lips as she kissed me.

“More, Red,” Aria whispered, her eyes half-lidded. “I need to feel you all the way… right up against me…”

I nodded again and pushed until I felt myself hilt inside her, our bodies pressed together firmly, and Aria let out a low groan of satisfaction as she felt our hips meet.

Not wanting to rush her, I waited for a moment as she got used to the pressure, and eventually I felt her moving on her own. She was gently grinding her hips, starting up a slow, bucking tempo.

“Fuck me, Shimmer,” Aria gasped breathlessly. “Just… fucking take me.”

Rather than speak, I obliged by giving my hips a heavy roll and bucking the length of the toy into her. She let out a cry of pleasure that was silenced by my lips as I pinned her down and gave her what she wanted.

The feeling of her writhing beneath me; the way she clawed at my back with those long, beautiful fingers of hers, how she gripped my waist with her lovely legs, was addictive. I felt a low growl build at the base of my throat as I thrust harder, my fingers tangling into her hair and pulling it slowly back to expose her slender neck, and I plunged forward fixing my teeth over the smooth expanse of skin there.

Aria let out a sharp gasp and I felt her buck hard against my waist, and a new wetness spilled across my legs as she hit her peak.

“You’re perfect, Aria,” I lifted myself up til I was staring down at her again. “My Aria…”

“Yours…” she whispered back, shivering softly as she reached up to stroke my cheek. “Forever.”

I lowered to kiss her again, rolling my hips in a slow, easy tempo, knowing she would be sensitive. I relished every quiet gasp from her lips that escaped our kiss.

Pulling away, I ran my hand over her cheeks, tracing the lines of her cheeks and lips, and shivered as she kissed my fingers and palm as they passed her.

I was lost beyond words with her, with Aria Blaze, lost in her eyes and in the feeling of her breath and her touch. My whole sense of self was drowning in the young, immortal woman beneath me, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Gathering Aria up in my arms, I rose slowly, pulling her up with me until she was in my lap. She gasped again as the length hilted even more fully inside her, her body slipping down its length.

For a while we just sat there, unmoving, holding onto each other as closely as we could. Aria’s arms were wrapped firmly around me while I was embracing her as tightly as I could.

The feeling of Aria’s slow, deep breaths was hypnotic, and I trailed my arms down her naked back, relishing the warmth.

“Never leave me, Red,” Aria whispered against my chest, in a tone that almost sounded like a plea. “Two days felt like two months… and I… I can’t ever-”

“I know,” I said quietly, “it was the same for me.”

Aria looked up at me and, reaching a hand up, she cupped my cheek and traced her thumb across my lips. I kissed it gently and she nodded as if deciding something.

“We’re forever, aren’t we?” Aria asked, her voice cracking a little.

I laughed a little, feeling happy tears burning at the edges of my eyes.

“Yeah,” I replied, nodding. “I think we might be.”

Aria leaned in and kissed me, warm and insistent, sliding her tongue to meet mine. We remained like that, my whole world reduced to lavender and mint and warmth until we pulled away.

“Then make love to me again,” Aria said, her amethyst jewels meeting my surprised gaze.

‘Make love’ was never a phrase Aria had used except mockingly.

I wasn’t going to argue though, so I laid her back down to the bed, and showed her my love.

I winced, my hand reflexively tightening on Aria’s as the needle moved across my shoulder. Aria smiled, her face was infuriatingly impassive as her own tattoo was being finished.

“Suck it up, Shimmer, this was your idea,” Aria said with a smirk.

I shot her glare, but my heart wasn’t in it. It rarely was when I was looking at Aria since it was usually a struggle not to smile.

Especially now, with her cap off and her hair cascading freely over one bare gorgeous shoulder. The other was exposed too, the one just opposite to mine.

Her left shoulder and my right.

“My idea,” I hissed, “was getting each other’s names.”

“Yeah, which is lame,” Aria shot back. “My way is better.”

“I’m not disagreeing, strictly speaking- ow!” I blew out a slow breath and pursed my lips at her. “But it sure takes a hell of a lot longer.”

“Pfff, wuss,” Aria snarked.

“Would you two stop bickering?” Adagio snapped, not looking up from Aria’s shoulder. “It’s bad enough I’ll have to put up with you two for the rest of our lives, you can at least let me concentrate.”

Sonata giggled from my side as she worked her own needle with care.

“Oh c’mon, ‘Dagi, I think it’s cute!” Sonata said cheerily. “Besides, you and I both know bickering is how they show love.”

Aria scoffed. “And here I thought that I showed her love by bending her over in an empty parking lot and railing her up the a-”

“Can you not?” I bit out, shooting Aria a glare that only earned a smug grin in response.

“Dunno,” Aria replied blithely, “I’ve never tried.”

“Clearly,” I deadpanned. “By the way, like, not to bring up a downer subject but what do you mean ‘rest of our lives’? You three are immortal.”

Adagio scoffed, and Sonata shook her head.

“Not since the Battle we’re not,” Sonata said, never looking up from her work, and I balked. “Whatever took away our magic made us more or less human.”

“Still gotta eat like a Siren, though,” Aria grumbled. “Which is kinda lame.”

“W-What?!” I gasped, trying not to move as Sonata was still working. “We took your immortality?!”

“Technically you broke the enchantment that was keeping us young forever,” Adagio replied as she dabbed at beads of blood on her sister’s arm. “It’s not a natural Siren trait, we're long-lived certainly, on the order of a millennium give or take a century, but not immortal and unaging... that was a jury-rigged curse with an upside that we sustained by draining people.”

“Couldn’t you tell we weren’t immortal anymore?” Aria asked in confusion. “We’ve obviously gotten older.”

“I… I mean, y-yeah,” I stammered, staring at Aria in shock. “I just figured maybe you did it on purpose with your magic!”

Sonata finally looked up with a quirked eyebrow. “Our magic that you… took away.”

I goldfished for a moment, then shut my mouth and let out a strangled laugh.

“Oh… right,” I said uneasily.

“Are you sure about her?” Adagio asked Aria with a dry expression.

Aria rolled her eyes and laughed a little, then met my gaze and nodded.

“Sure as the tide, ‘Dagi,” Aria said without hesitation.

“Done!” Sonata cheered, standing up and grinning widely.

Adagio let out a muffled curse. “Hers was easier! It was black and white, I had to use about twelve different tones!”

“Aria’s was a landscape, Sunset’s curls and twists,” Sonata replied. “Don’t be a sore loser, ‘Dagi.”

“Tch, fine,” Adagio clicked her tongue and stood up as she, too, finished. “I can’t believe I wagered my bottle of seventeen-twenty-seven Rudesheim on this stupid bet.”

“I’ll give it back if you add in that bar extension I wanted,” Sonata offered with a smirk as she dabbed at my arm and began cleaning the area around it.

“What is even the point of having an entire gin bar?!” Adagio snapped, throwing her arms up. “It all tastes the same!”

“Does not,” Sonata shot back, sticking her tongue out before turning back to me. “Be sure to keep it clean, use aquaphor to help it heal, and don’t shower over it, alright?”

“Sure thing,” I said quietly, standing up from the chair and stretching.

“And don’t scratch it if it itches,” Sonata added, furrowing her brow. “Just give it a slap.”

“We know, ‘Nata,” Aria said, rolling her eyes before turning to me. “So whadya think?”

I looked at the tattoo on her shoulder and felt my heart swell a little. Aria had a riot of oranges and purples done over her whole left shoulder in the form of a gorgeous evening horizon. The clouds spanned up from over the ridge of her shoulder all the way to her left clavicle, and the whole thing had taken Adagio just under five hours to finish.

“Perfect,” I replied, feeling my cheeks warm as I turned my shoulder to Aria. “How’s mine?”

I could practically see Aria’s eyes light up as they traced the image. I had gotten the opening musical score of Carla von Weber’s ‘Wie Naht Mir Der Schlummer’ curling around from the top of my right shoulder and down my bicep and tricep. The musical notes wove and curved like a living thing, making it look like three-dimensional musical notes were dancing around my arm.

“Perfect,” Aria said with a warm smile.

She was looking me in the eye when she said it, and I blushed.

“Time?” Aria asked, and I glanced at my phone.

“Almost seven,” I replied, “we’ve got a half hour before we meet the girls for dinner.”

“And, uh… Twilight?” Aria asked, and I was a little surprised that she sounded genuinely concerned. “You two okay?”

I sighed. “We will be, it was rough for the both of us.”

“We’ll figure it out, Red,” Aria said with a shrug. “Don’t sweat it.”

“Aria, c’mon,” I pressed, stepping forward and taking her hands. “Are we not gonna talk about how… about what I took from you three? You’re going to-”

“Die? Yeah, eventually,” Aria admitted, and Adagio and Sonata both nodded as well. “But we’ve lived way longer than we were supposed to, honestly… so at this point death isn’t that big of a deal for us, I guess… and besides…”

Aria mumbled the last bit, and I leaned in to try and catch what she’d said.

“What?”

Scuffing her feet on the floor, Aria grumbled a little before clearing her throat.

“I said,” Aria began, her cheeks turning brilliant red, “that I wouldn’t wanna outlive you anyway, okay?”

What could I possibly say to that? I just set my hands on her hips and leaned down to kiss Aria, my Aria, and she returned the affection.

“I… I guess I can’t argue with that, huh?” I said in a small voice as I pulled away. “I’m surprised you don’t hate me.”

“Eh, I mean… honestly? I kinda did when we met at the lounge,” Aria confessed. “But… then we, y’know, did our thing and, fuck, suddenly it was like I was drunk on you.”

“I’m glad I followed you back there,” I said with a laugh. “Crazy glad.”

“Me too, Red,” Aria replied, taking my hand. “Ready to go?”

“With you?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Always.”

Author's Note

Stay tuned for the epilogue

Epilogue: Peace In Our Time

I shivered as Aria’s fingers traced their way up and down my back.

It was late, or maybe early depending on your definition, and Aria was feeling playful which she usually was when it was dark and I was naked. Plus, I had fallen asleep on my stomach which left my bare back exposed to her after she got home from work so, really, I’m not sure what I expected.

“Keep your voice down, Red,” Aria whispered softly. “Don’t want to wake anyone up…”

“Aria~” I mumbled, still sleepy as she traced a single, slender finger up my spine with one hand as she clambered on top of me. “You’re teasing me again…”

Aria lowered herself until her naked body was draped over my back and her lips brushed over my ear. “Oh? Should I stop teasing you? That seems kinda boring.”

“Mm… maybe you should make good on the teasing instead?” I whispered back, my voice husky as I turned to smile up at her.

Her chuckle was low and heated as Aria gently nipped at my shoulders and neck, and I shuddered in pleasure as her talented fingers went down my sides. She kissed along my back, brushing my long red and gold hair out of the way so her lips could reach the sensitive spots on the back of my neck where she knew I loved her touch the most.

“Mm, Aria~, I missed you,” I muttered as I melted under her expert ministrations.

“I was only gone for six hours you loser,” Aria snarked playfully.

I shifted around and turned over so I could wrap my arms around her and pull her forward. Our lips met and she hummed delightedly against my mouth as trailed my fingers through her long, luxurious hair.

“Too long,” I replied after a long kiss, “too long by far.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “Maybe… ‘Dagi wants you to come back to work soon, by the way.”

I blew out a soft breath and then sighed. “You know how hard that’ll be with-”

“I know,” Aria replied quietly, her voice a little subdued. “We both knew when we made the choice… but you’ve gotta get moving again a little.”

“I can work from home,” I retorted a little defensively. “I’m a programmer, I don’t need to go anywhere to do my job.”

Aria didn’t answer, instead she reached her hand up and let her fingers find the lines of my face. She stared down at me with those gorgeous jewel tone eyes, amethysts that sparkled in the low light of the spring evening.

Seven years together and I still get lost in those eyes.

“You always do this, Red,” Aria said sternly. “If I don’t break you out of your funk you’ll just keep doing what you’re doing til hell freezes over.”

“If it ain’t broke?” I said weakly.

Aria was right, as usual. I had a problem with inertia; a problem that generally manifested in me getting comfortable doing a routine and then losing weeks or months to it. It wasn’t healthy, and it was probably wise to break out of it. It’s quite telling, I think, that Aria was the one who was taking up the role of ‘voice of reason’ here, but I suppose after so many years even the pair of us had to mellow out eventually.

“Can we talk about this in the morning?” I asked quietly. “I’m not deflecting, I do really want to talk.”

Sighing, Aria nodded and then leaned down to press her lips to mine. I felt her cup my breasts, running her fingers over the sensitive peaks, squeezing and touching as she kissed me.

“Ah~, I love you…” I whispered heatedly as Aria kissed down my neck.

“I love you too,” Aria replied, her voice low and breathy. “I’ll always love you…” she kissed me between every other word. “And I’ll never get enough of you.”

I let out a gasp as I felt her fingers trail past my waist and slip into me. I writhed beneath her and moaned softly, and I felt Aria shudder as she worked her fingers in and out in gentle motions.

My own fingers found her dripping sex a moment later and I began returning the favor, and I relished her low gasps of pleasure, the tightness of her, and the way she moved against me.

Mellowed or not, I suppose some addictions never fade, even after better than half a decade.

A gasp slipped past my lips as I jerked and came over Aria’s fingers at the same time she hit her own peak. The sweet, musical note of her voice sent pleasant shivers down my spine as she stifled a quiet cry of satisfaction.

I pulled my fingers free of her and lifted them to my lips, slipping them into my mouth without breaking eye contact with Aria, and her eyes narrowed in a fiery glare.

“You always know how to get me going,” Aria hissed softly.

Reaching out, she gripped my wrist and pulled my fingers from my mouth, and I smiled coquettishly at her, batting my eyelashes as I did, and she growled.

I’m dead certain it would’ve gotten even more intense from there if, at that moment, we hadn’t heard a loud crash from the kitchen.

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Aria groaned, hanging her head.

I slumped back against the pillows and sighed. “We signed up for this.”

“Did we?” Aria grumbled.

I laughed softly and raised my head to peck a kiss onto her lips.

“Yes, darling, we did,” I said in a slightly mocking tone. “Now c’mon, before the kitchen catches fire and explodes.”

I slipped out of bed, pulling on a pair of pajama pants and a loose tank top. Aria just grabbed a pair of shorts and the bathrobe hanging off the bed’s headboard, pulled them both on, and joined me as I headed down the short hallway to the kitchen.

As we approached I leaned over towards Aria.

“We need to show a united front, Aria, remember,” I whispered.

“I know, I know,” she grouched, her mouth twisting slightly.

We walked into the kitchen and stopped immediately. I let out slow, even breath and counted to ten, staring down at the tile floor as I did.

“Wow,” Aria said in a toneless manner that reminded me of Pinkie’s older sister, Maud.

The floor was a mess of broken ceramic and scattered cookies. There were crumbs and shards everywhere and in the midst of the ruin stood a tiny angel.

Or at least, that’s what she would’ve been mistaken for if that person had never met an imp.

She was small and slim, lacking much in the way of baby fat despite only being four and a half, and had an angelic face framed by perfect tumbling ringlets of gold, scarlet, and plum with a few streaks of turquoise here and there. Her expression was one of total innocence, although it was somewhat spoiled by all of the cookie crumbs decorating her mouth and down the front of her pajama onesie.

For a moment I felt exhausted in a way that had nothing to do with the fact that I was up at two in the morning. This exhaustion was different; it was a very specific, maternal sort of exhaustion that only a mother with an extremely high energy child who learns just fast enough to get into new and creative forms of trouble every other day can possibly understand.

She looked very similar to both Aria and I, which made sense since she was our daughter.

Literally.

Magic is a hell of a thing. Princess Twilight kindly cast the spell that mingled Aria and my essences once we decided this was something we wanted; a common enough spell in Equestria given the mare-to-stallion ratio is roughly three-to-one.

I agreed to carry the child and, nine months of the weirdest cravings later, Aria and I were proud mamas.

I’m not kidding about the cravings though, one time I thought I wanted radishes and blue cheese and it turned out I was hankering for schadenfreude.

Yeah, emotion cravings, perks of carrying a pathovore, I guess. So Aria and I binged two seasons of Jackass and I felt great.

She had inherited my precocious intellect, which made me newly appreciate Princess Celestia's infinite patience in raising me, and my wife’s flawless facial features, although she had a suspiciously ‘Sonata’ level of energy which was exhausting, and, weirdly, Adagio’s raspberry eyes.

The elder Siren sister had been instantly smitten on sight, and now she’s the worst kind of spoiling vodka aunt.

“Cantata,” I said firmly, my face schooled to tolerant neutrality. “What happened?”

“I dunno,” Cantata said with an entirely straight face.

If she hadn’t been standing in the middle of the destruction and clearly clutching a cookie behind her back, I might have bought it.

From that display, I am forced to assume that also she got her poker face from me, since she sure as Tartarus didn't get it from Aria's side of the family.

“C’mon kiddo, you’re the only other person in the house,” Aria said firmly.

“Nuh-uh,” Cantata said, meeting Aria’s eyes. “There’s Cowlick.”

“Are you suggesting the cat,” I enunciated, “knocked over the cookie jar?”

Cantata nodded her head emphatically, sending her ringlets bobbing around, and then beamed a smile that could have gotten her out of a murder.

That might work on Adagio and her wife but, unfortunately for Cantata, I happened to be her mother and was therefore immune.

“Cantata,” I said quietly, putting some disappointment into my voice. “I know you’re hiding a cookie behind your back.”

Our daughter just looked up at me with those big beautiful eyes of hers and blinked innocently.

“Nuh-uh,” she replied.

I heard a snort from my side and turned to glare at Aria who was silently shaking with barely restrained laughter

“Can I get some help here, dear?” I asked in a sarcastically saccharine voice.

Aria just snorted again. I knew if she opened her mouth she’d just start laughing and any ground I had gotten with Cantata would be instantly lost.

So much for that united front.

I sighed again and turned back to Cantata. “Honey, please… we’ve talked about lying, remember? What did we say about lying?”

“Only do it when you know you can get away with it,” Cantata recited as if by rote.

“PFFFFFFHAHAHAHAHAHA~” Aria finally lost control and started cackling, gripping her ribs as she bent double.

“Ooo~” I growled angrily before sucking in a sharp breath and turning to my wife, “Aria~, please tell Auntie Adagio that her babysitting privileges are suspended until further notice.”

“Aw c’mon babe, that was fu-”

My glare turned incandescent.

“F-f-friggin’ hilarious,” Aria finished, with a weak chuckle.

I pressed my fingers to my temple, blew out a calming breath, and counted to ten again.

Moving carefully, and I swept some of the crumbs and shards away with my foot as I approached Cantata and knelt down in front of her. I met her eyes, and she blinked innocently.

Sighing, I held up my right hand to the left of her face and snapped my fingers a few times. She looked up at my fingers, then frowned and looked back at me.

“Cookie,” I said firmly.

Then held up the cookie that she’d been holding behind her back in my left hand, which I had neatly picked from her hands while she’d been distracted by my fingers.

Cantata’s eyes widened.

“Mama’s got a few tricks of her own,” I said dryly, then I took a bite of the cookie.

She frowned as she watched me eat her prize, and I turned to Aria who was still chortling.

“Ari’, can you start sweeping this mess up, please?” I must have sounded as tired as I felt because Aria’s face instantly softened.

“Yeah, sure thing, Red,” Aria said softly.

I scooped up Cantata into my arms and made my way out of the kitchen as Aria swept up. I took another bite of the cookie as I carried Cantata into the living room and dropped in the couch.

Cantata was trying to frown at me, maybe trying to frown the cookie back into her possession, but then she yawned massively. After a moment she curled up in my arms and laid her head on my shoulder, and I felt the tension and exhaustion melting away as I cradled her and began to sing.

“Sle~ep now,

child of mine,

sleep til the dawning li~ght,

“Sle~ep now,

da~rling mine,

sleep and I’ll hold you ti~ght,

“No nightly fears shall find you here,

Mama will keep you warm and near,

so sle~ep now, da~rling mine,

sleep til the dawning li~ght…”

Cantata’s breathing was slow and even, and her small arms were clutched around me tightly. I felt tears tickle at the edges of my eyes as I looked down at her adorable face and wiped away some of the crumbs.

“My beautiful girls,” Aria’s voice came from the threshold between the kitchen and the den.

I looked up to see Aria leaning in the archway, her amethyst eyes sparkling with happy tears. She was still holding a broom and a full dustpan, and she turned slowly to tip the pan into the garbage as quietly as possible.

I stood slowly, hefting my precious cargo up carefully to ensure she stayed sleeping against me.

“I guess we should take her to bed,” I said quietly.

Aria shook her head. “She has nightmares, Red, just bring her to bed with us.”

I furrowed my brow. “How do you know she has nightmares? She hasn’t said anything to me.”

“Why else would she be up looking for sweets at two in the morning?” Aria asked, shrugging. “She probably just doesn’t wanna bother us.”

“But-!”

Aria leaned in and silenced me with a kiss, then gave me a soft smile.

“C’mon, Red, you know Canta,” Aria said quietly, before leaning down to place a delicate kiss on the crown of her head. “She got your brains and she’s all heart… she’s sharper than every other kid in her preschool. She catches on quick, so if you’re stressed just assume she knows it.”

I sagged a little as we walked towards the bedroom.

“She’s four, Aria,” I said plaintively, trying to keep my voice soft. “She’s not supposed to worry about me.”

“Yeah well, she’s your kid so what’d you expect?” Aria said with a small smirk. “C’mon, let's get some sleep, okay?”

Aria doffed the bathrobe and crawled into bed, I followed and settled in with Cantata between us. She snuggled up against both of us, one of her small hands fixing a deathgrip onto one of mine.

Pulling the covers over the three of us, I stared down at Cantata with a smile so wide that it almost hurt.

“Look what we did, Ari’,” I whispered, staring at Cantata. “We did this.”

“Hey, I just helped,” Aria commented sleepily. “You did the hard part.”

“But it was your idea,” I replied with a warm smile, reaching out my free hand to loop into hers. “If I remember right we were watching tv and then out of nowhere, you looked up at me and said: ‘Hey Red, wanna have a kid?’”

Aria blushed but didn’t open her eyes. “I mighta been feeling especially crazy about you at that moment.”

“We did it, though,” I said happily. “She’s the best of the both of us.”

“Here’s hoping,” Aria said, yawning and curling around Cantata.

I got closer, pressing my forehead to Aria’s with Cantata gently cradled between us.

“I love you both with all my heart,” I whispered, and I saw Aria’s lips curve up into a smile.

Aria said something in a flowing serpentine tongue without opening her eyes, and I blinked in confusion. Aria smirked as she opened one eye and fixed it on me.

“It means: until the tides fall silent,” Aria translated.

“Until the tides fall silent,” I repeated, then leaned in and kissed her. “Written’s Quill, I love you.”

“I know, Red,” Aria murmured softly. “Now go to sleep, we’ve got our whole lives ahead of us.”

And we did.

Author's Note

We Have Come To Terms