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                       Sink or Swim                        
                       -by Sunshyne-                       
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                    Just Keep Swimming                     
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Just Keep Swimming
“Don’t be nervous, babe; It’ll be alright!” Trixie reassured Adagio.
Trying to stay calm by focusing on her girlfriend’s hand in her own hand, Adagio managed the response, “I hope you’re right about this, Trix.”
Trixie and Adagio were walking side-by-side towards Canterlot High School. The night before, Trixie had talked Adagio into returning to CHS to finish high school. It had been just over a month since they had come sniffing around for Equestrian magic, and it had taken everything from them. Their lives had gone to shit, up until a month ago, when Adagio ran into Trixie and the two began a whirlwind romance.
Whatever spell Trixie had cast to have such sway over her, it was a powerful one and Adagio couldn’t defy it even if she wanted to. In order to build a future for herself that included Trixie, without holding her back, Adagio needed to return to the scene of the crime. And so she found herself in the courtyard of the school, examining the marble block out front, trying to figure out why it was so out of place.
“Hey, wait, didn't there used to be a horse statue? What happened to it?”
Trixie patiently answered, “The Friendship Games happened. Remember how I told you about that Crystal Prep girl who went nuts with magic? She kinda wrecked the courtyard.”
The damage was apparent, with scorched concrete and patches of dead grass drawing Adagio’s eyes away from the main path. “This school just can’t stop attracting trouble, huh?”
Trixie leaned a little closer, putting on her gossip voice. “Would you believe me if I said that kid is going here now? She transferred!”
Adagio let out an amused scoff as the duo approached the doors to CHS. Students swarmed around them, all heading through the doors, all giving the Siren the side-eye as they picked up their pace.
Beyond the doors, Adagio could see Principal Celestia in the front hall, happily greeting her students, warmly welcoming them to another day of learning. Adagio feared very little, but even she couldn’t deny her anxiety about returning to the place of her downfall. She could still hear the shattering of gemstones and the cascade of friendship lasers!
Trixie squeezed her hand, smiling as she reassured her, “Don’t worry, Dagi, if Sunset Shimmer and that new girl from CPA could be forgiven, I just know you’ll be okay! You didn’t even commit property damage!”
Adagio looked away to grimace at the ground, letting out a deep sigh. “Right, because that’s the bar…”
Trixie turned to face Adagio and took her by the other hand, causing Adagio to look deep into her enthusiastic purple eyes. Those eyes of hers were safety, security, satisfaction; if all else failed, she could still get lost in the eyes of her lover. “All you need to do is apologize, and I’m sure she’ll give you a chance.”
With a determined nod, Adagio leaned in to give Trixie a kiss, paying no mind to the students around them. Turning to face the doors again, Adagio took a deep breath to steal her nerves. “Alright… Let’s get it over with!” She proclaimed, walking up the stairs and pulling the door open for the two of them.
Almost immediately, Celestia turned to look and locked eyes with the Siren. All the exuberance of a gleeful educator vanished, replaced with the inexorable glare of a mother animal staring down a would-be predator. The Principal saw her as a threat to her students, that much was clear.
Cheerfully, Trixie tried to break the tension by waving to her and greeting, “Good morning, Principal Celestia! You’re looking quite radiant this morning!” As much as she feigned confidence, Trixie’s smile betrayed her.
“Good morning, Miss Lulamoon, and thank you.” Celestia gave a small, brief smile to Trixie before turning to Adagio and hardening her expression again. “And Miss Dazzle. What are you doing back here?”
“I am here to attend school. I am still enrolled, am I not?” Adagio answered.
Celestia’s face grew more stern as she answered, “That remains to be seen. Miss Lulamoon, you should head to your homeroom. I need to have a talk with Miss Dazzle.”
Trixie nodded before pulling Adagio into a sideways hug and saying, “Good luck, babe! I’ll see you in a bit!” With one last peck on the cheek, the Great and Powerful Trixie did as she was told and disappeared down a hallway lined with doors and lockers. The small gesture of affection emboldened Adagio’s resolve and seemed to make Celestia glower at her ever so slightly more.
Celestia turned and walked into the front office, stopping by an open door on the way. “Luna, could I borrow you for a second?” She said, and the Vice Principal emerged soon after, giving Adagio a similar look of surprise as they walked to Celestia’s office. Celestia took her seat at the desk, with Luna opting to stand, studying the Siren with suspicion. Adagio took the seat across from Celestia and immediately felt smaller than she ever had.
Celestia looked as though she was about to speak, but Luna got the first word in. “Sister, do you think Sunset Shimmer should be here for this? She's our local magic expert, after all.” For once, Adagio felt relieved hearing that name. Sunset was no friend, but she’d feel better about facing the principals with her in the room.
Pondering for a moment, Celestia offered the compromise, “I’d like to see where this goes first before we have her weigh in. But, we should call her now instead of waiting.” Reaching over to a microphone on her desk, Celestia pressed a button and spoke clearly and firmly, “Sunset Shimmer, please report to the Principal’s office.” The words echoed through the school over the intercom. After releasing the button and straightening her posture, the magenta eyes of the principal returned to glare at Adagio.
“So, Adagio Dazzle. Give me one good reason not to call the police.” Celestia started, cutting off Adagio’s answer with a second statement. “Or, better yet, have the football team throw you back through the portal so the Equestrian authorities can deal with you.”
The prospect of returning to Equestria caused an instinctive reaction, one based on failed plans and abandoned ambitions. Recalling how she and Aria had come to the conclusion that they were better off without the possible doom awaiting them in Equestria, Adagio shook away her thoughts and pieced together an answer. “I know that you have no reason to believe me, but I have seen the error of my ways, and I am truly sorry for the trouble I caused. Trixie has convinced me that I need to finish high school, insisting that CHS is a place for second chances.”
Celestia seemed ruffled by the implication that Adagio needed to be forgiven, lest the Principal look bad. “Our young magician seems quite taken with you; Have you two been dating long?”
The direction this talk was taking confused Adagio, making her wonder what Celestia was playing at. “Yes. Trixie and I have gotten quite close in the past few weeks.”
Celestia smiled faintly, her tone growing no less impassive. “How nice! What sort of song did you have to sing to pull that rabbit out of a hat?”
Instinct brought Adagio’s hand to her collar, where her gem once rested. “There was no song! My sisters and I no longer have that kind of power, your Rainbooms made sure of it. I haven’t manipulated her!”
Luna chimed in with a dark remark, “Manipulation doesn’t need magic in this world, Miss Dazzle. It just takes saying the right things in the right ways, and teenagers can be easily misled with some low cunning."
Using her sister’s words as a springboard, Celestia continued with her accusations, “And the magic you held clearly required some cunning to use. Does Miss Lulamoon have something you want? Something useful to you?”
Adagio was beginning to sweat, hoping that Sunset might arrive and provide some support from the dressing down she was receiving. “No! What I have with Trixie is…”
“Does she know what you are?” Luna asked plainly.
Adagio resisted the urge to growl or hiss as she bit back, “Yes, she does. I told her and she still accepted me for who I am.”
Sunset peeked her head in the door. “I’m here, Principal Celestia! What’s g– Uhh.” Sunset froze, eyes locked on Adagio as she entered the office. “Um, hey, Adagio.”
With a sunny smile, Celestia beckoned, “Sunset, please come in. We were just having a discussion with Miss Dazzle.”
Luna spoke next, “It seems that our local magician has become quite fond of her as of late.”
Closing the door behind her, Sunset frowned at Luna and Celestia and spoke in an uneasy tone. “Oh, that. Yeah… Trust me, I was suspicious at first, too. But, from what I’ve seen, they’re for real.”
“And you see no problem with her dating Trixie, given what she is and what she has done?” Celestia asked pointedly.
“Well… She apologized, and she’s trying to be a better person.”
Sick of everyone speaking around her, Adagio spoke up for herself. “Trixie and I love each other, and I feel like it’s nobody else’s business otherwise!”
That did not sit well with Celestia at all. “This school is my business. My student’s safety is my business. So if you expect to come in here like nothing happened, it becomes my business, Miss Dazzle!”
“You haven’t even given me a chance to explain myself!”
“Oh? And just what is there to explain, exactly?” The school administrator huffed in the most condescending voice she possibly could have chosen!
Adagio calmly bit back, “What I get out of coming back here. The reward that comes with the risk.”
Celestia cocked an eyebrow upwards, patiently waiting for an explanation.
Dagi took a deep breath. “It’s more than just the chance to see Trixie more often. Coming here is a chance to, for lack of a better word… ‘Assimilate.’ Now that my sisters and I are without magic, it’s either we sink or we swim. The way I see it, this school is my best chance at a future in this world, getting an education, learning to fit into Human society. I came here because I am choosing to swim.”
Luna studied her for a long while before she spoke, “Say we believe you, that you truly just want to build a better future for yourself. What are you willing to do to make up for what you have done?”
“What would you have me do? What did Sunset Shimmer do, after she had her Big Moment?” Adagio turned to look at Sunset Shimmer, her old enemy and unlikely ally, trying her best not to give her a death glare.
Sunset tried to answer. “They had me repair the wall I destroyed…”
Principal Celestia interrupted her, scowling at Adagio. “What you have broken, Miss Dazzle, is trust. That is not so easy to rebuild.”
“But… Not impossible.” Vice Principal Luna corrected, earning her a glowering look of disbelief from her sister.
“What made you trust me, Principal Celestia?” Sunset asked, much to the principal’s dismay.
Celestia moved to speak, but her thoughts seemed to falter. After some hesitation, she answered, “You were, and still are, one of our brightest students, and you were already my student for many years before your moment. To me, you were a misguided pupil, and I can’t express how proud I am of your turnaround.”
“But then again…” Luna mused, “Sunset and Adagio come from the same world. Why would we give one a chance at redemption and condemn the other?”
Celestia turned to her sister and hastily justified, “We have records of Sunset. From the foster home, from kindergarten all the way to eighth grade. The Sirens, on the other hand, have nothing. Three strangers came to our school and within days had made trouble.”
Adagio cut in, “And we paid the price for it! I lost everything when I came to this school looking for magic to feed on! I live in a van with three sisters, I work a dead-end job for minimum wage, I had nothing!”
Leveling out her tone, she continued, “And then this adorable CHS student ran into me, taught me about love and became my entire world! I would do anything for that girl, which is why I came here looking for a way to become a better woman for her!”
“And all you’ve done is harp on about what I did and what I am! Yeah, I’m a cold-blooded sea creature! Yeah, I came here in bad faith! Yeah, I turned the students against each other and mind-controlled you two, I got blasted with Equestrian Magic for it! Now I’m here ready to right my wrongs and you won’t even give me the same chance that you gave to that unicorn!”
Acutely aware that she had lost control of herself, Adagio closed her eyes, balling her hands into fists, taking a deep breath and attempting to calm down. “Look, if I were a lesser siren, I would steer clear of this place for the rest of my days and try to never cross paths with anyone in this building.”
Opening her eyes and unclenching her fists, she met Celestia’s eyes that burned like the sun. “But one of Principal Celestia’s talented students has wormed her way into my heart and taught me how to be human. And I have to try to make this work so I can have a future with her, so I’m putting my fate into your hands. If you wanna just make me pay for what I’ve done and then kick me to the curb, I can’t give you a reason not to! But I’m willing to put myself through the gauntlet of public education for the woman I love, and I’ll do literally anything you ask me to do in order to get a diploma.”
After a long silence, Adagio offered the principal a choice. “So… What’ll it be? Will you let me swim? Or would you rather I sink and drown?”
Luna bent down, lowering her voice as she reminded Celestia, “Sister, she is a student-- however delinquent she may be-- and this school has never let a student fall behind.”
Celestia looked up to glare at her darker counterpart, but something in her face softened as she looked at her sororal co-administrator.
“Are we really going to start turning our backs now? What if we had started with me?”
Celestia didn’t respond, giving a deep sigh as she turned to look at the two young women across from her, gently tapping a finger against her elbow as her gaze flitted between the two of them. “Sunset? What do you have to say about this? Do you think it’s worth the risk?”
“Well… I can one-hundred percent guarantee you that Adagio doesn’t have magic anymore. So… No risk there. As for letting Adagio come back to school…” Sunset looked over at the Siren to her right, taking her in for a moment before looking back to Celestia. “I think Adagio knows what she wants, and she knows causing more problems isn’t going to help her get that. I think we should give her a chance.”
Celestia studied Adagio, then Sunset, then Adagio again, and finally her sister. Giving a heavy sigh, the Principal addressed Adagio directly, “Alright, Miss Dazzle. It looks like you might have a shot at human education, on one condition: We'll do a test-run for one month. If you can stay out of trouble and be a model student for a whole month-- no fights, no unexcused absences, no failing grades-- then I'll see what we would need to do to have you meet the requirements of a diploma. I can't promise you'll walk with this year's graduating class, but we'll see if it's possible for you to not go through four whole years.”
Trying to contain her excitement, Adagio stood up and leaned over the desk, extending her hand, “Sounds like a deal, Principal Celestia!”
Celestia accepted the handshake, but her serious eyes still met the Siren's gaze. With a firm grip, she pleaded, “Please, don't make me regret this decision."
Standing by Adagio and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, Sunset beamed, “Don’t worry, I'll keep an eye on her and show her the ropes!”
Luna smiled and politely ordered, “Sunset, could you introduce Adagio to Mrs. Harshwhinny's homeroom class? We'll work on a temporary class schedule and send it over before the second period bell.”
Sunset nodded before walking to the door and holding it open for Adagio. Before she stepped through the door, Adagio turned to say, “And Celestia… Thank you.” It was still such an alien phrase to escape her mouth, leaving an odd impression on her lips and ears.
And yet, the hardened stare and the impassive impression of earlier disappeared, as the school administrator smiled apprehensively at the Siren.
Walking out of the office alongside the girl who was once her enemy, Adagio mentally braced for the successful outcome that she had not prepared herself for; Attending high school legitimately and slowly building her future with Trixie.
“So… How does it feel?”
Adagio scoffed at Sunset, brushing her hand away to get her arm off of her shoulders. “This doesn’t change what I said about not wanting you and I to become friendly, okay? I appreciate you having my back, but I think friendship is still off the table.”
Sunset still just smiled knowingly at her. “I know, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be cordial. At least we’re not enemies anymore!”
Adagio sighed, “Sure. Whatever. But also, if you know I don’t wanna be friends, why’d you stick up for me back there?”
After a moment of thinking, Sunset gave an answer that would have made Adagio cringe if she had heard it a month ago. “I made the mistake of judging you for your past once, jumping to the conclusion that you were manipulating Trixie. I'm in no hurry to make that same mistake again.”
Adagio thought for a moment, settling on simply saying, “Thank you.” Those two little words still felt so uncomfortable to her. But she let them ring out as she walked alongside Sunset, getting an odd sense of déjà vu as they walked through the same halls she had once before. After some time, they came to a stop in front of a door that looked identical to all the other doors.
And yet, Sunset definitively announced, “Well, here we are! You need a moment or are you ready?”
Adagio stared wordlessly at the door, cursing her own nerves. The halls were still empty, it wasn’t too late to leave. To run and never have to face what lay behind that door, to go back to the comfortable malaise she felt with her sisters rather than whatever the CHS student body has in store for her.
Willing herself to take a calm breath, Adagio gave Sunset a resolute nod. “I’m ready.”
Sunset opened the door and stepped inside, addressing the teacher by saying, “Good morning, Mrs. Harshwhinny! Principal Celestia sent me to introduce a new student! Everyone, this is your newest classmate, Adagio Dazzle!”
Adagio's introduction was met with anemic enthusiasm from most of the students, two of the only ones she recognized being the pink members of the Rainbooms. ‘Good, they can bear witness and help set the record straight with the rest of them so they don’t fuck with me.’
But the one other student she recognized brought a smile to her face, as Trixie sat at her desk, waving happily to her. Adagio sheepishly waved back at the only person in the world who mattered to her, paying no mind to any of the other people in the room. She distantly heard Sunset taking her leave and the teacher instructing her to take an empty seat, so she gravitated to the seat to her girlfriend’s left and sat in the hard plastic chair. As the teacher resumed her lecture, Adagio tried to actually pay attention and take this school stuff seriously.
As the rest of the class shot barely concealed glances and loud whispers her way, Adagio noticed Trixie reaching out to her, just under where they would have been noticed. With a smile, Adagio clasped her hand and gave it a quick squeeze while they had the chance.
It seemed like her first proper day of school was off to a good start, all things considered.
Author's Note
Finally finished another story. It shouldn't take me this long to write a one-shot x.x
Consider this a little after-credits scene, setting up the true sequel to Shine Brighter. :ajsmug: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/ajsmug.png