Author's Note
Canterlot High School has been changed to Canterlot College - just because it still doesn't vibe with me that Sunset and Twilight are adults in Equestria but still go to a high school.
Odysseus Drowned
Chaos festered in the halls of the Canterlot College. The Battle of the Bands was days away, and the sirens knew that they had the entire place wrapped around their fingers. The source of power they yearned for - to ascend above all and to claim what they believed to be birthright.
The voice of Principal Celestia came through the speakers. "The next band to take the stage will be...Trixie and the Illusions!"
The three sisters nodded at one another. Their cue was close. These were merely auditions, but even then it was a chance to practice before the real deal. Before the showdown.
"Better head back. We're supposed to go on after Trixie." Adagio cooed. She rallied her sisters towards the doors of the large hall where Trixie and her group had eagerly prepared their qualifying song - and Adagio had to admit that of all her opponents, that band had the most potential.
Yet, their prideful and sinister walk would not go unharried. In the darkness, the sun stood - halfway on the horizon. A sun that tried to dawn.
Unknowing that she would merely be the sun to set beyond the ocean's horizon.
"You're never gonna get away with this..." From the shadows on the end of the hallway, Sunset Shimmer hissed quietly to the passing sirens. Her eyes stared daggers at the threats - those she knew to be sirens, not just mortal women. She'd heard the stories of loss and terror - all starting with sweet melodies that lured sailors to death.
The sirens were bullies - to put in the lightest terms. They would be deceivingly sweet to the victims, and utterly ruthless to those who resisted. Years ago, when sailors came with their ears plugged with beeswax, they brought out their claws, and would just drown them manually with their massive, coiling bodies.
But Adagio had taken a little longer to practice their approach. More methodical. They would have failed if they kept on the same way as usual, if they did not adapt. They had conversed amongst one another to settle on one strategy that was the final, most ultimate act of sowing the seeds of doubt. If they merely put Sunset down and bullied her here, leaving her after each delivering a discarding hip-bump, they would have merely strengthened her resolve.
And the cruel only won if they knew when to show kindness.
Adagio approached Sunset - closer than the redhead had accepted. Sunset cursed herself, for showing weakness as she took a step back deeper into the darkness. They circled her like sharks - but sharks that could not bring themselves to sink their teeth in the flesh of a diver whose cage had suddenly broken apart. "Sunset." Adagio smiled. "Are you saying that because you couldn't get away with it? We didn't believe it when the others started to say those rumors about you..."
The words stung Sunset, who winced at the memories of the past days. The reactions, the looks she was given just by being present in the hallways. "...They are not rumors." Sunset admitted, eyes casting down. "B-But I've changed, I'm in a much better place now!" She barked, trying to take a step towards them, but taking yet another one back when they stepped closer.
"Oh, Sunset..." Aria said, the frown on her face would have appeared deceiving if it wasn't...genuine. "Sorry, but it doesn't look that way from where we're standing."
Adagio nodded to those words. "Sunset - a better place would be surrounded by those you can call friends. But in this hour, when you're clearly aware that we are here to harvest everyone's magic...they didn't ask you to be in the band."
The words circling around her made the girl shake in thought. Indeed - she thought of this, and she wasn't all that bad with a guitar, even if the girls hadn't even asked her if she played anything. They hadn't even tried to initiate her into the group.
"...That's really sad." Sonata softly cooed. "It's really, really bad."
"..." Sunset shook, eyes glued to the floor as she merely hoped that these voices would leave her - not because they angered her, but because those words had played the correct notes needed to let doubt vibrate to the dark corners of her mind she tried so hard to suppress.
They stopped circling her. Instead, they opted to directly stand in-front of her, not showing pity, but genuine worry and care in their words, even if Sunset had objectively deduced it was all manipulation. Yet, Sunset hadn't defended herself either - nor the slander falling upon those she deemed her friends.
"Do you see how they look at you? Those snake eyes, hating and distrusting you..." Adagio asked. "Sunset, I know that look. We know that look..."
Sonata sighed, hands to her heart. "Sure, we've got thicker scales-...skin. But the kinda stuff they say can drive anyone into a bad spot. Craziness, sadness...Yeah, we're used to it - but we know it ain't easy."
Aria put her hands on her hips - her eyes stuck to the floor with reflection, and contempt for the world. "But we don't flinch 'cause that's the kinda look we're used to. Yeah, you might think we feed on hate, Sunset - but it's not like anyone's given us anything else to work with."
Sunset shook. They must have been saying that to lower her guard, she was sure. "O-Okay, s-so? You're still about to feed on them! You still want to harvest their magic! But you don't need to! You can stop! We can be friends!"
Adagio smiled - sadly. "You really are empathetic. You're not like the others. Sunset - everyone wants friendship, but we've only got each other." She guided towards her sisters with her eyes. "Nobody would want to be friends with us. And, Sunset...It's time to rip the bandage. They are not going to reciprocate your friendship, either."
"That's not true!" Sunset exclaimed, her hand balling into a fist that she shook at Sunset. "I know I did awful things, even before Twilight arrived here! But even if I realize what I did was wrong, it doesn't mean I shouldn't try to be friends with them!"
Sunset's lips did not contain her gasp when Adagio took Sunset's fist. Gently. It was such a slow and harmless movement that she did not register her own surprise - nor did she recoil her fist. Adagio sighed, taking Sunset's fist and guiding it to her chest. To Adagio's heart. "You're a good person, Sunset. You try. But they don't. They don't treat you nicely because they want to be your friend. They're afraid of you. They pity you - they will only do so much until they get tired of the games. And when that happens? They'll just blame you for being the one who cast them aside."
Sunset's eyes were slowly developing wetness. "That's not...that's not tru--"
Aria put a hand on Sunset's shoulders, with aggression, but not towards the girl. The kind of gesture one would do to inspire another. "Sunset, please - just listen. Stuff like this happens all the time. People get toyed with, and then they forget how to love. Totally alone. They promise you their hand, but when you're on the deathbed reaching out for it, it's just not there."
Then, Sonata had become the third Siren to hold onto a part of Sunset's body when she gently leaned in to hold Sunset's hand - the redhead so stunned by this out-of-the-blue affection and caressing that she froze like a deer in headlights. "I'm really trying to hold myself back from making a scene - I want to shout at them and ask how DARE they play with your feelings...But it'd only make things worse. Sunset Shimmer - you do not deserve something like this! You're a really nice person, and you're better than the best of them. You deserve to be happy! To love life! You deserve...love."
"I-I..." Sunset's eyes raced three ways - between each of the sirens' eyes, and at the hands that touched a part of her each.
"...We're so, so alike." Adagio whispered.
Sunset should have shouted - I am nothing like you! Yet, she could only whimper and stammer. "I'm not...not like..."
Adagio suddenly clutched Sunset's fist and held it so close to her heart that the siren's heartbeat was felt. It was fast. Anomalously fast. "No, Sunset! We're kindred spirits, and we want to show you the truth! We don't want you to drown. We'll drag you out of the abyss, because we're tired of liars and traitors. They call us so many things back in Equestria..." Adagio calmed herself, smiling sardonically and chuckled as she looked downwards. "You know what, Sunset? I'll be honest. Yeah. We've destroyed fishing villages. Yeah. We've sunken ships. Yeah. We've started wars."
Sonata's hand clutched Sunset's harder. "But Sunset, there's one thing we've never done. The one thing we've sworn off since birth, the one thing we will always swear off no matter how murky the waters get."
And then, Aria's clutch hardened on Sunset's shoulder. "We've never - not in the past, and not in the future - betrayed anyone."
In the darkness, not even the shoddy cameras saw the caresses and touches of the three sirens.
Yet, there was nothing predatory. Nothing perverse. Nothing sinister in the hands that each held and contained Sunset in this strange paralysis - their touch being the sheer opposite of a jagged corral. Smoother than silk, warmer than embers, and more desperate than thirst.
Sunset blinked - and only then did she see how close the sirens had positioned their faces. Dangerously close. Adagio could whisper her silky words with the least force, yet those words drilled into Sunset's ears. "Please, Sunset Shimmer. Let us open your eyes and ears. Be with us - and you'll grow the gills and fins that will keep you safe from the abyss."
"I..." Sunset gulped. Words were robbed of her, she needed all the oxygen to breathe, her chest rising and falling - and her breath brushing against the faces of the sirens who had been so close, to the point the sisters knew what kind of toothpaste and chewing gum the girl used. Yet, sweeter than the smell was only the warmth of her proximity.
Then, Sunset was in free fall. The hand holding hers let go. Sonata giggled, her voice suddenly chipper and cutesy as always. "But that's okay Sunny, ya don't need to respond in any way now. Take your time."
Blushing, Sunset then felt that she was cast into a chasm once the hand let go of her shoulder. "But with all that said..." Aria muttered. "We're gonna prepare. After we go through the qualifier, we're gonna spend a long while rehearsing. We got a studio prepared for tomorrow here at the college. Second floor. Five o'clock. We'll spend most of the evening there. Our doors are always open to you, Sunset."
Sunset gasped - but then became still as lake water. Now, the final hand threatened to let go of her - the hand that would see her fall flat to the ground. Adagio's eyes slowly blinked as she looked into Sunset's - into the soul. "We'll accept whatever you do from here on out. No doubts, no judgement. But we'd like nothing more than to get to know you.." She said.
And then...Sunset hit the ground. She was finally allowed to open her fist - for the hand that held it shut relented.
"See you at the rehearsal." Adagio said soothingly, quietly - like a kiss on the cheek without lip contact. The sirens walked into the light, and Sunset remained in the abyss, rubbing her fist. Her eyes had traced every single step of the sirens, and only when they turned the corner did reality return.
Sunset felt awful. Not because she allowed an evil creature to hold her hand, not because she didn't once fight back the evil and proclaim it for what it really was...
But because Adagio let go.
*** The sun set, then dawned. ***
The next day, the Rainbooms all practiced, jamming and strumming. At parts, the music was great, and at others, the composition fell apart. It was all part of the due process. as Twilight practiced her singing, she went off-key and the others groaned. The reason Twilight made the mistake was what she saw. Sunset Shimmer sitting on the window sill, and staring out of the window.
"Let's take a break, okay?" Twilight proposed. The others sighed, put away their instruments, and chatted for the next fifteen or so minutes. This gave Twilight the moment to approach Sunset Shimmer. She put a hand on her shoulder, and the surprise made the redhead flinch and slightly pull away. Twilight slightly pursed her lips, noticing the anxiety. "H-Hey! Sorry, Sunset. I just wanted to check on you...Are you alright?"
"...Yeah, I'm okay..." Sunset Shimmer said, a smile so forced that it was painful to hold. "Tired, I guess."
"Are you sure?" Twilight asked. "You haven't really been okay since yesterday, after the qualifiers and stuff..."
"I'm sure, Twilight." Sunset said, slightly pulling her legs closer.
Twilight frowned, tilting her head in concern as she once again tried to put a hand on Sunset's shoulder. "Sunset, you don't have to hide how you feel. I--"
Yet, it wasn't Twilight's hand that made Sunset feel all that warmth.
"I'm fine!" Sunset snapped - pausing the other conversations in the room and forcing all eyes on her. She looked anxiously at them, eyes shifting left than right...And right at the clock.
A quarter to five. Sunset Shimmer gasped and immediately stood up, grabbing her back. "S-Sorry, I-I really gotta run! I'll catch you girls later!" She said, immediately rushing to get all her belongings before practically sprinting out through the door.
"...Well, someone's in a hurry." Rarity muttered. "I wonder where to..."
"Yeah. I don't even know where Sunset's got to be." Rainbow Dash scoffed. "It's not like she's got any friends. Other than us, I mean."
Twilight gasped. "Rainbow Dash!"
"What? You know I'm right."
***
Every second counted, and Sunset had arrived only two minutes late, which already filled her with anxiety. The doors to the studio practically slammed open. The girl was panting and gasping for air, sweating hairs stuck to her forehead. The sirens each jerked in surprise, but they all had the same smile painted on their faces.
The idea that their prey-...no, their new point of obsession had suffered for their sake, having sprinted and now needing to recover with pained breathing, the sight of her holding her side from pain...They did not like that she was hurting herself.
But all three couldn't help but feel that warm feeling - seeing what she was already willing to do for them.
"You came!" Sonata giggled - lunging right at the redhead to wrap her arms tightly around her, her face so close to her neck that Sunset felt her soft, warm breathing. "We were worried for realzies that we wouldn't get to see you!"
"You...were?" Sunset asked in-between heavy breaths. She hadn't heard something like this before - that someone felt anxious just from the lack of her presence, not the other way around.
Sonata let go, allowing Aria to approach. "Well, duh!" Aria said, her greeting being a friendly, soft bump in the shoulder. "We'd looking forward to it since this morning. Hellloooo? Aria to Sunset? We've been pretty dang excited to see you in action with our band!"
"And I'm glad too - whether or not we get to see you play." Adagio softly smiled. She approached Sunset to plant her hands upon her shoulders - ever slightly pushing down as she looked her in the eyes, not breaking contact with a blink. "Thank you for this, Sunset. We haven't really had company other than ourselves in...ages, at this point."
Sunset would have broken the eye contact out of shyness, but she did not. She looked back, seeking something in the siren's eyes...Unsure what it was.
Aria groaned. "Okay Adagio, stop hoggin' her! Now come on, Sunny! We'd love to see what you can do! What do ya play? Drums? Bass? Got a really cool vocal range we can harmonize with?"
"Oh!" Sunset's eyes sparkled. She immediately approached the rows of musical instruments, locking onto the electric guitar which she took into her hands with glee. "I can play this! Trying to cover solos and stuff on my own is like, one of my favorite pastimes!"
"I love guitars!" Aria grinned, presenting her fist to Sunset. Much to Sunset's own surprise, she didn't hesitate to bump Aria's fist. "Except Adagio thinks we're too good for instruments!" Aria then said, giving the side eye to the orange-haired sister.
"Your voice is your greatest gift, and you wish to ruin the composition!" Adagio rolled her eyes. "You ever tried the pasta - Cacio e pepe, Aria?"
Aria threw her arms up in annoyance. "Here she goes with the lectures again."
"It's a simple dish." Adagio grit her teeth, stroking Sunset's hair as she spoke, like a villain petting their cat. "The name translates to cheese and pepper. Do you know why it translates to cheese and pepper?, Aria?"
"...Because it's got like..." Sonata genuinely spent a moment to think. "...Cheese and pepper in it? This ain't a trick question, is it?"
"A masterful deduction, detective." Adagio sighed. "The dish has, apart from the spaghetti itself, two ingredients. Cheese of the pecorino variety, and black pepper. This is a traditional recipe and remains one of the best dishes in its home country. If you add a single other thing to it, the locals will send it back to the kitchen or right in the dumpster, and I do not dare think what critics would say. It's a perfection of simplicity. You add a guitar to your singing, Aria, and those idiots in the crowd will go cross-eyed, rather than looking at you where the real perfection is. So no, Aria - you do not NEED to play guitar."
At the words, Sunset doubtfully looked at the instrument in her hand. It was strange to hear Adagio's words, until she came closer to her, gently placing a hand on her waist.
"But you dear..." Adagio smiled. "If we had you playing guitar in front, think of how fine the composition will be. Your guitar will be the SPARK the...the STRIKE that will simply...open up everyone's eyes and ears - like the shove that sends the unaware into singing. Our music on its own can captivate, hypnotize, and beckon the listener. But with you? You will also bring passion, awe, ENERGY, POWER! They'll beg us for an encore, chase us to the ends of the Earth just to keep listening to us."
Sunset looked with wide eyes at the enthusiasm. It was telling that she hadn't ever been hyped up like this, captivated fully by Adagio. Adagio did however blush, clearing her throat. "Sorry. Been in lyric-writer mode, you know how it is. Anyways - come on! You'd be perfect with our singing."
"You think?" Sunset chuckled. "I haven't really played in a band before..."
Adagio was going to ask her next question to guide Sunset away from Twilight and the others, and yet...She felt her words come with genuine empathy, and pity. "The Rainbooms haven't asked you what you can play, have they?"
"I-I can't blame them." Sunset tried to recover from the implication of that. "They got a big group, I-I mean..."
"It's no excuse." Adagio suddenly proclaimed. "Sunset, if it wasn't clear already, I'd like to extend a hand to you. Why not play with us? We'd love to have you.."
Sunset never knew what being hit by a truck was like, but she found out the verbal equivalent of it. It was one thing not to join the Rainbooms even though she couldn't deny that she felt the notion she deserved to...But to join the Dazzlings, knowing full well of their scheme? That would have been stupid. Joining the villain? No. That was unthinkable.
But she was frozen with the other thought - would she really want to cast them away, when they had welcomed her? At-least, she tried to rationalize that spying on them was the ultimate goal of this. Yeah, that's right, Sunset - just keep an eye on them, report their plan to Twilight, and it'd be the easiest disposal of a villain!
The words from one day ago, however, then struck her. That never in their existence have the sirens betrayed anyone. Would she really lower herself to that? To betray those who had gone so far as to invite her to their studio? They were trusting her, not just keeping her at an arm's length.
"Oh, I...I don't know." Sunset gulped, rubbing her arm.
"Hey, it's okay." Sonata said. "For realzies, It's a big deal! We're not gonna expect you to suddenly make a choice now. But it's always on the table."
"But uh, since you're here..." Aria smirked with excitement. "Why not go for a jam sesh? Give us some riffs, somethin' glammy, we'll put on some instrumentals, and we'll improvise vocals from there. I mean, we didn't just call you here to ask you in the band, we wanna spend time with you!"
As if a weight had fallen off her shoulders, Sunset sighed the stress away and nodded, holding the guitar. "That I can do. Okay then, let's jam!"
*** The sun set, then dawned. ***
In the cafeteria, Sunset wasn't able to look at the other girls. She had fraternized with the enemy, or so that's what they would have thought. They said so many awful things about the sirens - and perhaps it made sense considering in the end, the sirens wanted to sap all the magic. But the more she listened, the more...unfair it felt. So unfair - after all she'd seen firsthand.
"They're very unkind..." Fluttershy softly said.
"They're total party poopers." Pinkie rolled her eyes.
"They're darn dishonest!" Applejack grunted.
"They're uncouth!" Rarity humphed.
"They're backstabbers!" Rainbow Dash grit her teeth.
"They're evil." Twilight Sparkle analytically said.
So many words that Sunset Shimmer was unable to hold it in. "That's not true!"
This immediately earned the kinds of looks she dreaded to feel. Eyes that stared at her with surprise, those that would have judged her immediately, if they weren't caught so off-guard. Sunset had to recover. She cleared her throat. "I mean, they're...They're a mystery. We know nothing about them or what they're really like." Sunset Shimmer sighed. "Maybe there's a way to solve this. We could always talk to them. I mean, we haven't tried to..."
"What kind of talking could we do?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Sunset, are you okay? You're being kinda..." Pinkie Pie spun her index finger around her temple. This gesture offended Sunset deeply, who tried not to show it.
Sunset felt backed into a corner. "I'm just saying..."
"We'll defeat 'em and that'll be that." Applejack muttered. "Ya can't negotiate none with villains, Sunset!"
"...No, I guess you can't." Sunset retorted quietly, but not in agreement.
Applejack immediately regretted her words, chuckling awkwardly. "'A-Ah mean, unless the villain's willin' to listen! We got through to you somehow, right girl?"
Sunset did not look happier with those words, and so she began to gather her phone and bag. Applejack was in full damage control now.
"No, 'ah mean..." Applejack stammered. "'Ah don't mean you're a villain! Not anymore! 'Ah...Wait, 'ah meant--"
Yet, by then, Sunset Shimmer was gone. Applejack gulped and tipped her hat to hide her eyes. "Oh apple fritters...Me n' mah' big mouth..."
***
Sunset Shimmer's fingers hit the strings. She usually stuck to reading music off of a sheet, but there was something in improvisation. Her guitar was determined, the riffs radiating with her own soul. Her own thoughts. The amp vibrated, the waves of sound crashing down upon the studio were hair-raising, impressing Aria the most. When Sunset strummed the last note, she was left sweating and gasping.
She had so much anger in her. It was directed towards her friends, but she denied herself the thought. It was just something that slipped out of Applejack's mouth, it wasn't meant to harm her. She was certain...
But there was so much that she could internalize. How could they look at her like that? She remembered how they reacted to her simply proposing to talk with the sirens. Wasn't that after all the whole point of friendship? Wasn't there some kind of merit for trying to do this peacefully? The way they stared...They way Pinkie Pie spun her finger around her head, as if to call her crazy.
Sunset could not contain her rage, not with the anger issues she's always had. Gritting her teeth to stop them from rattling, she held her guitar high and swung it downwards in a fit of rage.
Yet, a hand stopped her. Aria's.
Gently guiding her hand from Sunset's wrist and trailing it to one of her shoulders, Aria softly smiled at Sunset. The redhead looked back with watery eyes of surprise, but then calmed down. The siren helped them put the guitar away, and Sunset could no longer hold it in. She started to sob, tears streaming down her face.
"There, there..." Aria placed one hand around Sunset's waist, and the other on the back of her head, gently guiding her to cry into her shoulder. "It's okay. We don't need to talk about what's wrong if you don't want to, Sunset. Just let it all out." She whispered, pulling her in closer. Yet, Sunset was the first to do so, resting her tired weight onto the siren.
"...I'm sorry, just..." Sunset sobbed. "Just had a bad day..."
"We've been there." Aria whispered. "Take as long as you need." She said, fists clenching. "And if you need me to teach someone a lesson, just let me know." She grunted...Then, a dash of humor would help, too. "Uh, besides..." She chuckled. "Can't have you thrashing our equipment, can we? We're not millionaires...Yet."
The little bit of humor was enough to give Sunset a small laugh, and so she allowed Aria's shoulder to soak in the hurt her friends unintentionally dealt her.
*** The sun set, then dawned. ***
With a plastic container wrapped in a bag in her hands, Sunset Shimmer anxiously walked through the hallways. She had a goal - to go through the exit door, and make her way to the studio.
Twilight Sparkle and the others saw her and waved - they had planned to spend some time after the lessons, and yet, Sunset Shimmer only offered a small wave in return, before taking her as quickly as her legs could out of the building.
Twilight frowned. Something was wrong.
***
"Sunset Shimmer!" Sonata gasped as they sat around the table. She dug into the food as she sat beside Sunset, the four having taken a break from jamming. "This is amazing! You're an awesome cook, for realzies! Here I thought tacos were the only good food in this world! What'd ya call it - chili, right?"
"Yeah!" Sunset Shimmer happily said. She'd been nervous she messed up, but the fact the sirens were enjoying the meal gave her heart the lightness it yearned for all day. "Are you sure it's alright? Maybe I didn't cook it enough? Did I overcook it? Did i--"
"Hihi, it's perfect, just like you!." Sonata cooed, and leaned her head against Sunset's shoulder. The redhead could only blush, but she didn't push her away. She didn't want to.
*** The sun set, then it dawned. ***
Sunset wouldn't have entered the room, if not the myriad of texts from Twilight. She supposed she could spare them a bit of time, even though she wasn't optimistic as to what the conversation was about. She entered the room where the Rainbooms practiced, and she saw Twilight's excited eyes. The others however merely observed her. She gulped - the reservations she'd felt stabbing her heart.
"Hey, Sunset. Glad you could make it." Twilight said, coming close to Sunset. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something. I know things have been tense with the battle being pretty close, and I understand it's had an affect on you...or, all of us. So..."
"...Yeah?" Sunset gulped, small beads of sweat running down her forehead. Anxiety gripped.
Twilight spoke the next words with pride and eagerness. "Sunset, we'd like to have you join the Rainbooms! I'm sorry we didn't think of doing it sooner, but we're sure that with you we're going to win the battle!"
"...Oh. You..." Sunset's eyes broke off of Twilight's eyes like a jet under fire. She looked at the ground, counting the creases of the wooden floor as she rubbed her arm. "You...You don't have to, Twilight. You don't need to...You...You shouldn't."
Something in that alarmed Twilight, puppeteering her body to quickly step to Sunset Shimmer. "N-no! I mean, we want you in the band! We owe it to you." Twilight sighed. "I realized that we haven't really made the best effort to...well...speak to you, to get to know you. I'm really sorry, we've been so overwhelmed that we never realized how much our friend needs us."
Sunset needed a way out. Earlier, she would've joined in a heartbeat. Now, she wasn't so sure. "Yeah, that's fine, just..." Sunset coughed. "Twilight I...I need time to think."
"WHAT!?" The echoed shout of all the other six girls resonated through the room, a genuine shock that prompted confusion in some, anger in others.
"We thought you'd be heels over your head about this!" Rainbow Dash barked. "Could'a saved us the trouble and worry! We were here feeling ashamed we didn't invite you sooner!"
"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie cried out. "That's like sending an RSVP saying "maybe", you know!?"
"Girls!" Twilight cried out at her friend's words - but the damage was done. Sunset pushed into the corner once again.
"I-I'm sorry!" Sunset gasped, defensive as she took steps back. "I just...I just don't know if I can play in a band! And...I thought you didn't care about me being in the Rainbooms anyway..."
"But we do care!" Twilight gasped. "A-And it's okay! I totally understand! It's not a problem, Sunset, r-really! We can manage!"
"Without me, huh...?" Sunset mumbled. "...Well, yeah. Again, I'm really sorry. I just...there's another band that thought about inviting me, and--"
"Who could that possibly be?" Rarity asked, unaware how hurtful her words sounded.
"I can't tell..." Sunset grit her teeth. "Look, let's just drop it, and--"
"Somethin' don't add up." Applejack suddenly proclaimed. "...You've been acting strange since a few days ago. You've been avoidin' us, and you've been disappearin' all the time."
Sunset's eye twitched. "Look, I've just got my own stuff going on!"
Yet, the nails would keep being driven into the coffin, unwittingly. "What kinda stuff?" Rainbow Dash folded her arms, inquisitively furrowing her brows. "You've got to tell us, Sunset. You've got an obligation to."
"Since when!?" Sunset barked. She was being cornered with these words, starting to shake.
"Since the time you nearly doomed everyone!" Rainbow shouted, earning nods from Pinkie and Rarity. "What, are we supposed to suddenly be okay with you acting weird? The last thing we need is for you to go back to the old Sunset!"
Sunset had to lean against the wall, for her legs were too weak. Not from the awful words, but from the fact her body struggled to hold back how she felt. She spoke past her clattering teeth. "Y-You think I haven't changed. Don't you!?"
To control the damage, Twilight Sparkle made steps towards Sunset with defensively raised hands. "I-I don't think you haven't changed! I-I just think that...That we should just...pay more attention to how you feel a-and, and...make sure that..." Twilight sighed, her head lowered. She had to come clean. "...To make sure you don't go back to how things were."
"So you think I can still become the old me!?" Sunset cried. "You haven't felt easy around me since then, have you? Nobody has! Everyone looks at me in the hallway exactly the same way they always did! Nobody's given me a second chance! What, am I suspicious for every little thing I do now!?"
"Well excuse me!" Rarity stepped forward to defend Twilight. "I do not wish to imply anything, but we've never had villainous tendencies. Twilight is only right to keep a closer eye on you - it's only better to be safe rather than sorry!"
"So that's it!?" Sunset shrieked. "Am I just going to be seen as a possibly relapsing villain for the rest of my life!? Why should I change then if it changes nothing!?
Rainbow Dash pointed a piercing finger right at Sunset. "I'll just say it cause nobody else is gonna - if you haven't learned anything from the time you nearly enslaved everyone, then we cannot be friends!"
Sunset winced from those words. Hurt. Attacked.
Yet, a cornered animal knew to fight back at some point. Sunset had taken in the most toxic inhale of her life, one that would fuel words more poisonous than arsenic.
"The sirens were right about you all!" Sunset screamed. "You're NOT my friends, and you've never tried to be! I've been an idiot to believe ANY of you - you soulless...treacherous...LIARS!"
The silence split the heavens. She was met with six girls whose faces had filled with shock, horror, and sorrow. Fluttershy began to weep, Rarity clasped her mouth shut, Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood with mouths agape, Pinkie Pie's eyes began to fill with swelling tears...
But Twilight could do nothing but let the words weaken her legs - and she promptly fell on her knees before Sunset Shimmer. Quiet, and immobile.
Sunset did not believe what she had just screamed out...She wanted to shut her mouth with both hands. Yet...Why deny that she meant everything she said?
She kicked the door open and ran as fast as her legs could take her. Away from the college. Away from everything.
She ran towards the only thing that could comfort her now. The only three people that could.
Even if they had ruined her life with hope, affection, and love.
***
When Sunset reached the studio, she swung the doors open and immediately collapsed onto her knees. Her cries had prematurely ended the final rehearsal before the battle. The sirens usually basked in such misery and sadness...But not today. They couldn't. With concern and worry, they each approached Sunset and guided her to the couch. Aria and Sonata sat beside her, and Adagio knelt before her.
"There, there...Sunset, what happened?" Sonata frowned, stroking Sunset's shoulder.
"They...They're liars. They were liars." Sunset sobbed into her palms, drenching them with tears. "There was no point in changing if they'll treat me like a potential monster for the rest of my life..."
"Forget them. They're not worth it." Adagio softly said. "Sunset, they were never on your side. You don't deserve them. Forget it. All the memories you've had with them - they've masked their intentions the whole time. Right, Sunset? Just forget about them."
As per her command, Sunset did indeed search her memories.
Yet, just for a moment, the final light of hope in Sunset remembered that day. When Twilight reached her hand out, and pulled her out of the hole she'd made in the ground. Oh Celestia - what if she was the fool? A moment of clarity or faux hope was what made Sunset have a realization - or at-least what she assumed to be clarity.
Except, even if she was correct, it was nothing more than her mind scrambling to find an answer in panic. A broken mind trying to find the closest puzzle pieces it could cling onto. Her intuition was good - but it mattered little when it came from that desperate attempt to fix the problem at any cost.
The redhead suddenly stood up, the surprise sending Adagio falling back onto her rear. Sunset wanted to help her up, but the sirens saw how incapacitated Sunset was with her hyperventilation and shock.
"No..." Sunset gasped. "Things weren't supposed to end like this..." She cried out. "I...I would have never snapped at them like that if you didn't say all those things!" Sunset Shimmer screamed, her hands finding purchase on the temples of her head as she shut her eyes and ears. "That's it! This is what's going on! You've set me against my friends! You've ruined my reputation! You've turned me into a traitor! You've only pretended to love me!"
Sunset cast herself into silence. Shutting herself off from the world. Frozen, she merely wished to wake up in bed. To take back all the words she said and start the day over from zero. She'd achieved a sort of nirvana - opting to cut her away from all senses and awareness.
That barrier broke when a pair of hands behind Sunset placed themselves on her wrists. Not forceful, not painful. All they did was gently guide the palms away from the ears.
Aria and Sonata slowly approached from the front - each planting their lips upon either side of her ear.
"Three truths..." Aria said, a whisper quiet like a dim torch in a cave.
"And a lie." Whispered Sonata, quietly as prey hiding in a burrow from the predator.
"We did set you against those you thought as your friends, but only by showing you the truth." Adagio said, hands caressing Sunset's cheeks. "We ruined your reputation as someone who can be lied to straight in her face." Adagio whispered, cupping Sunset's chin from behind. "We turned you into a traitor - to those who've never been on your side." Adagio cooed, planting her index finger softly against Sunset's lips to keep her quiet.
Adagio gently leaned in closer to embrace Sunset from behind - and so did the others, enveloping the girl with their warmth from all sides. Aria and Sonata each interlocked a hand with Sunset's, while Adagio placed her hands on Sunset's shoulders, ever-so-gently pulling her down.
"But the last thing is a lie. We've never pretended to love you - because we do. We will. Even if you cast us aside at this moment. Even if you choose to go back to the comfort...We will understand." Sonata said, her breath ragged, shaking, unstable.
Against either cheek, Sunset felt tears. Not hers.
"...If we've hurt you this much..." Aria sniffed. "Then we have no right to hold you here. No right to drag you with us."
"Because..." Sonata quietly, yet sharply inhaled. "Our heartbreak means nothing compared to your happiness. If you want that life with the others...If being with us hurts you..."
"Then so be it. You can still make things right. You can still apologize to the Rainbooms and return to them." Adagio said. Sunset felt warm liquid on her nape. "...We'll cherish what was, and could have been. I only want you to remember us."
"I..." Sunset swallowed, too pained to speak. "I...I can't--"
Then, they interrupted her. "Thank you, Sunset Shimmer." The three sirens spoke in a harmonized whisper.
And just like that they were gone - the studio's doors closing behind them. She didn't even notice how they all walked out.
Sunset thought - this only served her right. Everyone would leave her. There was no other way about it...
Or...Was she the one leaving them?
She stood static and quiet, still as a statue. Then, her heart sparked. And she dashed with all her might through the door.
Sprinting through the hallway, Sunset pushed people aside in her mad run. What did she care!? What did she care when they treated her like dirt anyway!? They imagined her being hurt anyways - or worse. They hated her then, why would they even like her now? She almost enslaved them - and for a short time, she did. Would a slave ever thank their oppressor!? Would the dirt thank the rain for washing it away!? Would angels ever forgive demons!? Curse them all to Tartarus, she only cared about...them!
She only saw a glimpse of them - leaving into the yard. She ran faster. Her lungs hurt so much. She could run well, but panicked hyperventilation made each breath feel like a stab. She wheezed and gasped. Only one final act of pain was needed. She braced her shoulder, and dashed at the double doors.
Like diving into the water within the deep chasm.
When she erupted from it, she lost her footing, falling forward and hitting the dirt, almost with her chin if she hadn't placed her palms on the ground, which slightly scarred from the pebbles they scraped against. She began to crawl forward - blindly, not risking to let the time she would waste by looking up to see where they went.
There she saw the three pairs of legs. She knew them, from the thighs to the soles of their shoes. Like a dying beggar, she wrapped her arms around the closest, clinging onto the calves no less desperate than a child unwilling to see their mother leave.
She wanted to shout, wanted to scream...But she could only shake and whimper.
"I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...I'm so so so..." She gasped for air, wheezed, sobbed, and inhaled. "I'm so...so sorry...so...so...sor-"
"We forgive you." Aria flatly said.
"...We will always forgive you." Sonata said, her voice a little warmer.
Sunset did not even see how Adagio leaned down to pick Sunset up by her armpits, raising her up to eye-level with surprising strength. Unwilling to face the shame of having betrayed them and cast them aside, Sunset did not look, immediately diving her nose into Adagio's neck as she began to sob.
"...And we'll keep forgiving you." Adagio kissed the nape that was coated in her own tears. "Because no matter what mistakes you make, no matter how hard you try to hurt us, and no matter how the seas will rage...We love you."
"We've loved you since the beginning." Aria hugged Sunset from the left.
"We will always love you." Sonata hugged her from the right.
Sunset wished she had more arms to hug them all completely. She stood there, in the darkness of shadows so none saw how she'd prostrated before the sirens. But she didn't care if anyone saw her.
She only cared that she was with them, here and now.
After a moment, the sirens pulled away. Aria smiled, wiping a tear off of Sunset's cheek. "Better?"
"B-Better..." Sunset nodded, smiling weakly.
Adagio smiled. Content - and not just about the plan. "Let's go back to the studio and write our song. Will you do us the honor, Sunset?"
"W-What? Me? To write a new song? Right before the battle!?" The redhead stammered. "But how am I gonna do that? I have never tried writing a song, especially for three vocalists!"
"Who said it's going to be just three, silly?" Sonata hip-bumped the girl cheekily.
Aria gave her chest a small pound, her eyes fierce and determined. "We'd rather lose our powers than leave you out of the Dazzlings, Sunset."
Sunset couldn't believe it - but this was no dream. Those words were like the warm sea breeze. Adagio smiled at her, nodding. "We want you. We need you. What do you think? Lead guitar and front vocals. Sunset and the Dazzlings."
"But..." Sunset nervously rubbed her neck. "Heh, that would mean it'd take the spotlight from you girls..."
"And that's exactly where we want you."
***
Once she turned the corner and stepped onto the spotlight, there was no turning back. The threshold would lock her in this final choice. Running away would have at-least ended this here. She wouldn't be friends with the Rainbooms, but at-least she wouldn't be the villain.
But if she ran, then...where to? She had nowhere to go. She was given two chances, and squandered one. If she rejected the other chance, no matter those consequences...
The moment her feet could even contemplate turning, she stopped. With the crushing despair, she had felt herself become soulless, but then...
Life rushed to fill the husk once that familiar warmth she'd become addicted to returned. Adagio's hands on her shoulders, Sonata's hand on top of her fretting hand, and Aria's hand slightly cupping her waist. The three sirens surrounded her. She'd once be disgusted at the idea - but now it seemed the only place she ever felt good. Ever felt safe. Ever felt loved.
"We're ready when you are, Sunset. On your cue." Adagio whispered, and kissed Sunset's nape.
Aria and Sonata wordlessly kissed a cheek each. Those kisses stuck to her like melting sugar, each of the lips that touched her face and neck a phantom pain that lingered. Sweet, hot, and dangerous...But it was that heat which injected locomotion into her legs. Into the light.
***
On the hill overlooking the crowd, the Rainbooms prepared. They were supposed to be after the Dazzlings, so the only logical choice was to interrupt their performance from up there. Rainbow Dash smirked as she tuned her guitar. "Vinyl's speakers are gonna come in clutch! We'll be heard from up here even if they're wearin' ear plugs!"
"All set!" Pinkie Pie chirped, having adjusted her drums.
"Ready." Fluttershy said with her sweet, soft voice.
"Let's send those sirens back to the abyss!" Applejack eagerly grinned. "Right, Twi'?"
Yet, Twilight Sparkle was zoned out. She stared at the brewing clouds, the darkness...Sunset Shimmer never left her mind.
"Twilight?" Rarity squeaked. "What's wrong?"
Twilight shook her head. "Nothing, I just..." She trailed off. She waited. She waited so long. That by some miracle Sunset Shimmer would be here. That she would come back. She'd come here, and she'd play with them. The Rainbooms, all together - her friends working as one to stop the sirens from consuming the magic. She didn't need Sunset to apologize for her words, because they had much to apologize for themselves.
But as she clutched the microphone, she closed her eyes. She made a wish.
A wish to see Sunset Shimmer.
And so did the monkey paw curl.
A hail of gasps came from the girls beside her, their eyes fixed to the distant stage with terror.
"Wait, what!?" Rainbow Dash shrieked. "Look! On the stage! Is...is that--!?"
***
Sunset Shimmer walked onto the stage with her face hidden from the world, her hair flowing down upon her face and concealing it. Her heart raced, the fingers that held the guitar each shook. She couldn't breathe for the air felt dense. Upon seeing her, there was immediate booing from the crowd, but she had no strength to react to it. She stood there, paralyzed.
And she would have stayed there if she didn't hear the sirens' harmonized whisper - somehow able to reach her through the loud torrent of sound.
"We're here, Sunset."
It was now, or never, ever. Sunset turned her head to Adagio who eagerly cradled the microphone...and nodded. And so did Adagio smiled - teeth like a shark's. Eager not just for the magic, but for the brilliance of their new member.
"Ladies and gentlemen..." Adagio's voice smoothly pierced everyone's ears, like into the ear of a lover - but there was no love in the words for anyone but one girl in the center of stage. "Sunset and the Dazzlings present to you - Any Phoenix Drowns at Sea!"
Adagio's presence turned boos into cheers - at-least the crowd liked three of these four girls on stage. Little did they know that the fourth would redeem herself. Just not in the way Twilight Sparkle had hoped. And in the end, it would be the last time they'd ever hope for anything.
Then, instrumentals activated. Sunset leaned her face closer to the standing microphone, shortly after a sharp exhale.
"One..." Sunset whispered to herself. "One, two...One, two, three, four--"
Sunset began to strut. Her guitar started off softly, distorted but playing like a calm sea, raging only enough to let the waves crash softly.
I rose above the mountains and the hills...
Wings of freedom, unleashed by my will...
Sights set on heaven, to reach - those gates,
The place I sought, once denied by fate!
But the song was not written to be a sob story. This was her triumph. Her ascension. Not the redemption she believed she wanted, but the redemption she needed.
Then she strummed hard - the melody dropped as her guitar began to distort, kicking into rock. The storm was picking up, the waves taller, curvier - faster, and angrier. Angry just as her voice, for her softer singing turned into shouts.
Under the stones which the angels hurled,
Under the storm, the heart ached and hurt!
Under pressure and under deceit I saw it so plain,
Licking my wounds believing it'd relieve the pain!
The sirens smirked at one another, their mouths opened. They intended to unleash their magic, but that was not all. They were here to sing. To support Sunset Shimmer. They harmonized. If it were anyone else, they'd hate not to be the lead vocals. But this was a special person.
(Ooo~oooh~...Aaa~aah~!)
(Descee~eendii~iing, descee~eendii~iing~...)
The sound hurt Twilight. Their spell hadn't reached her yet, but hearing Sunset's singing - no...the words...Twilight dropped the microphone before it had even been activated. She tried to run downhill and reach the stage, to finally get her friend to snap out of the hypnosis that, in-fact, was not taking place. She'd run as fast as she needed to - but each step felt much heavier.
Sunset screamed her lyrics - but the melody was not lost. Not a bit.
The clouds' kingdom set my hopes ablaze,
My mind a haze - my heart now razed!
Wings burning off - just like my soul!
Descending to the deep blue belo~ooow!
The power of the sirens would waft through the crowd - a green haze that made the crowd stay still, zombifying and hypnotizing them into a stupor, where they surrendered their energy to feed their magical starvation. So they sang, their words not drowned by the guitar, but held buoyant by it.
(Into the deep blue belo~ooow~!)
Twilight's legs buckled, a weight upon her shoulders as if someone, something was dragging her downwards. But it weren't the Sirens who did this to her. She didn't even register as the magic finally reached the hill upon which they were perched, and her friends started to drop their instruments - a weakness crushing their bodies.
But oh, Sunset saw them. Their colorful outfits, their set up...
Well, these words were for them.
If heaven won't have me, then so be it!
I won't lie to my heart, and I won't deceive it!
If you won't pull me out from the waves,
That's just fine, because I will be brave!
If the only warmth comes from the abyss,
then why shouldn't I embraaa~ace this blii~iiss!?
The Dazzlings exchanged a knowing look, and Sunset did the same.
The chorus. The final nail upon the coffin of fate.
It's all becooo~ome so clee~eaa~ar...
(So clee~eaa~ar~...)
Unshacklee~eed froo~oom the fee~aar!
(Froo~oom the fee~aar~...)
With hope to be loved and freeeeee...
(Nee~ever to be freeee...)
The final line of the chorus came with the sincerity Sunset had hidden all her life.
Any phoenix drowns at the see~aaa!!!
The final blast of sound from her microphone and guitar had rendered everyone in the crowd weak and incapacitated. They kept playing the song to achieve the chorus thrice - not to harvest more magic, but to complete the composition they lovingly wrote together, when their hands caressed hers as she wrote the words, how they hugged her when she practiced the notes, how they kissed her under the darkness...
And then, the song was complete. Sunset broke out of her trance and saw the battlefield which she'd stood over. So many weak, sapped of energy - energy that had gone to those whose dark embrace she'd leapt into. There she was - the accomplice to the villains' master plan. She believed a few days ago she'd be the one to stop them, to stop them from doing the same thing she failed at. And now here she was, admitting to herself a simple fact.
Failure was bitter.
But success is sweet.
While Sunset silently looked at what she'd done, the sirens approached from behind. Slowly, from the darkness. With the tremendous power they'd harvested, there was no holding back. They could destroy anyone with ease. And Sunset Shimmer...Their plan no longer needed her.
But that didn't mean they didn't need her.
The arms wrapped around Sunset and pulled her into a soft hug from all sides. Sunset did not relent, merely standing and watching the audience as they were now feeble...But she was not a hero. They denied her that right, and the path of redemption was overshadowed by another.
Love. Sweeter than victory.
She turned her head to plant a kiss upon Sonata's lips. A warm and soft kiss of joy. She then turned to kiss Aria, a sensual and loving kiss of power. Then finally...She turned around to kiss the siren behind her. Adagio. A desperate and obsessed kiss of dependency and sincerity.
"Let's run away." Sunset whispered. "...I don't care where. This world, Equestria...But wherever we go, whatever we do, I want us to be together."
"Then lead the way, lead guitarist." Adagio purred, biting her lip as she gently moved a lock of hair away from Sunset's face. The sirens turned around backstage, Adagio staying back to admire her handiwork. Sonata and Aria walked beside their shared lover. Sunset held Sonata's hand while the siren leaned her head against her shoulder, and Aria dominantly held her arm around Sunset's waist as they left.
Adagio, left behind, took a deep breath to inhale whatever leftover magic lingered. She sighed with elation, pleased with how it all turned out. She felt blessed. This magic was great. Powerful. Amazing. But Sunset Shimmer?
It was the most miraculous blessing of her evil, malignant, and despicable existence.
The siren turned to face the suffering crowd with her back, walking backstage to follow her sisters and lover...
But before Adagio could turn the corner to leave, she heard the sound of shuffling. She turned around to see Twilight Sparkle, who had crawled onto the stage with as much strength as she had left. "You...You won't get away with this." She grunted. Adagio humored her, stepping closer and crouching to be a little more eye-level. "Sunset...will understand you've just manipulated her. She will see you for the monsters you really are. She'll redeem herself! After all...you're only pretending to love her!"
Twilight quietly, fearfully watched as Adagio brought her face close - and planted her lips near to the defeated heroine's ear.
"Here's the most terrifying thing you'll ever hear, Sparkle." Adagio whispered. "Three truths, and a lie. Figure which one is which yourself."
*** The sun set. ***
