“You can’t do that!”

The outburst was fierce, tinged with a note of unyielding dedication, but certainly not unexpected. In fact, these tended to occur whenever she would indulge in her daily habit, almost as if the students purposed to intrude her office at such times. She was here for them, of course, but sometimes their problems could be easily solved without her assistance. Sometimes all it took was a teaspoon of goodwill, a drip of mutual understanding, and a heartfelt smile or two.

Being a principal at one of the most prestigious educational facilities in town was a never-ending ride with issues and antics beyond imagination at every turn. This time around, a student seemed to be telling her what she was and wasn’t allowed to do.

Celestia put a cup of yet untasted tea back on the desk. This should be fun.

“Sunset Shimmer,” she greeted the intruder. “As much as I’m delighted to see students drop by my office once and again, I would much rather prefer they declared their arrival prior to entering.”

A shade of crimson not unlike Sunset’s wavy hair flooded her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, I-I was in a rush! I should have knocked!” Sunset replied, took a step back, and knocked on the already wide open doors.

“Enter,” Celestia said, allowing herself to a little smirk. “Please, sit. Is there something I can do for you, Sunset Shimmer? Unless, of course, it happens to be a matter of what I can’t do?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk about. I don’t think what you’re doing is fair.”

“Oh?”

Sunset cleared her throat. “Well, I understand that what happened during the Showcase technically qualifies as a crime, and according to the school rules it is more than enough to have them removed, but I think a reprimand would suffice,” she said. “These girls deserve a second chance. There is no need to expel them!”

Celestia carried a teaspoon’s worth of sugar to her teacup. Aside from sweetening the beverage she gained a feasible excuse to break eye contact, and not a moment too soon because else she’d burst out laughing at how ridiculously uninformed Sunset was. Instead of clarifying the case right away, however, Celestia decided to turn it into a slight attitude exercise for the girl. She welcomed the opportunity all the more because she seldom had a chance to employ her bad cop skills, especially since she had rehired Luna, who was a natural and had no equal in that field.

Indeed, this will be definitely fun.

Celestia twirled the spoon, helping the crystals dissolve into sweetness, as if in compensation for the upcoming lack thereof heard in her voice. She leaned back in the chair and joined the tips of her fingers into a pyramid. “If I understand correctly,” she slowly said, “you’ve come to my office, unannounced, in the attempt to alter my decision, which is final, and to the making of which I have executive rights, given my position in regards to this facility?”

Sunset uttered a response, but ended lost for words in the arising embarrassment.

“Not at all! Well, yes, from a certain point of view, it’s just, uhm–”

“Just what?”

“It’s just that you gave me a second chance after that Fall Formal!” she quickly said, steering clear from Celestia’s stern gaze. “My actions left a gaping hole in the ground and reduced the entrance to a pile of bricks. What Adagio and the others did wasn’t different from what I’ve tried to accomplish.” Sunset winced and rubbed her neck. “Only that, at least they did it without ruining the courtyard. I wasn’t expelled. Why should they?”

Hearing that, Celestia loosened up. It had been brought to her attention that Sunset was behaving kinder and more generous towards others lately, but she didn’t expect to evoke such humility in her. Perhaps her act was a bit too artful for its own sake, or maybe Sunset, mostly daring and resolute wasn’t quite aware of what brought her into the office in the first place. Either way, the girl’s resolve was unquestionable.

“Have you ever wondered why I let you stay at the CHS?” Celestia said. “It was a tough call to make, and convincing the authorities to stay out of it wasn’t any easier. There may be no laws regulating extraterrestrial phenomena such as your case, but destroying public property, coercive persuasion, and attempted abduction of minors with hostile intent was a good enough reason for some to have you put in a reformatory. The fact that you’re an immigrant living on her own without a legal guardian didn’t help it, either.”

Celestia walked to the window and uncovered the blinds, as the sun had already moved past her side of the building. Pleasant, afternoon daylight entered the room, casting a ray on Sunset and highlighting tiny dust particles twirling over the desk.

“I pulled some strings, met up with the authorities, soothed a horde of parents who were absolutely outraged at what happened, or could have happened to their children,” Celestia said, then turned back to Sunset. “I allowed you to stay because I’ve known you since before the incident, and I knew that you were one of the best students CHS has ever had. There are pictures of you in the foyer, pictures of you winning three consecutive Fall Formals. Your grades were top, and your yearning for self-improvement admirable,” she added. “I let you stay because I believed in who you can be when you’re at your best. However, based on the course of these past two days, I cannot see Adagio, Aria, and Sonata as anyone but troublemakers.”

Sunset didn’t reply at once, and for a moment Celestia thought she overdid it.

“If you had expelled me back then,” Sunset finally said, “I would have never truly get to know Applejack and the others. I would have never made friends who made me who I am now. Like you, they believed in me, and I believe that these girls can learn what I’ve learned. They only need time, and a chance to turn themselves around,” she added, gathering her courage into crossing eyes with Celestia. “Please, I’m asking you to reconsider.”

Celestia’s face expressed nothing. She didn’t want Sunset to notice how proud she actually was, and how glad she was that making friends lead her student towards becoming a good person. CHS was seen as a place of knowledge, but Celestia always put heavy emphasis on teaching her pupils moral foundations so difficult to adhere these days. There was still a road ahead of Sunset Shimmer, but she was getting there, one good deed at a time.

Celestia came back to her chair. “You should probably know that I did not expel the Dazzlings,” she said. “We had a talk, and I’ve offered them a place at the CHS should they want to study and use their talents for something else than manipulating others.”

A grin as wide as the one Celestia was hiding came to Sunset’s face, brightening her crestfallen demeanor. “Then you’re NOT throwing them out! Oh, that’s great news!” she said with relief evidenced by her sliding down the chair a little. She straightened up almost immediately. “But wait, does it mean that they’ve decided to stay? I heard people talking about how Vice Principal Luna escorted them to the exit and that they didn’t seem too happy about it. They’re staying, right?”

Now that all but one thing became clear, Celestia lifted the cup and took a warming sip of her favorite beverage, to go along the fuzzy feeling which arose inside.

“Only one.”

The gymnasium was empty, as no class had PE lessons scheduled for today. On Fridays, Miss Spitfire and Mr. Soarin’ conducted some kind of specialized training at the local military unit. They were both veterans, after all, capable of turning simple warm-up exercises into a grueling drill. Especially Miss Spitfire, or Mad Colonel Spitfire as she was known amongst students.

Sunset found the one she was looking for in the grandstand, sitting alone in the top row. Out of the three, the girl didn’t strike her as one who’d be interested in taking up any kind of learning, but if she had the will, then Sunset was going to do her best to help her. Her friends did it for her many times, even when the whole school was pretty much hating her shortly after the Fall Formal. They were first to reach out and talk to her, and this time Sunset wanted to do the same for someone else.

“Hey Sonata,” she said. “Mind if I join you?”

Sonata Dusk had the blankest expression a living person could have, looking somewhere far beyond the gymnasium’s wall bars and windows covered by a protective net. It seemed as if she wasn’t exactly here, and only Sunset’s hand waving before her eyes broke her torpor.

“Oh! Sunset! Didn’t see you there.”

“You do seem awfully pensive. What were you thinking about?”

Sonata’s eyes narrowed as she gazed deep into herself to find the answer. The extreme state of focus took over the rest of her face, but as no amount of frowning or biting her lips sufficed, she gave up and shrugged.

“I don’t know. What I was meant to think about?”

Sunset chuckled, walking up to the other girl. “I don’t know that either,” she said. “Listen, I heard that you’re staying with us at CHS, and I want you to know that I think it’s great. I can’t help but wonder why, though. There has always been three of you, but the others have left.”

“I feel weird,” Sonata replied. “We’ve been together for such a long time, but now it’s all over. I mean, Dagie was the brains of our team, she was the one telling me and Aria what to do. Now that she’s gone I’m just… lost. I don’t know what I should do.”

“Well, where do you want to go from here?”

Sonata blinked at her in surprise. “Why would I go anywhere? I thought that staying at school would be nice. Neighborhood is nice. People are nice. Lunch breaks are nice!” she said, then let out a saddened sigh. “It’s not like we could go back to Equestria, anyway.”

“Why not? I could get in touch with Twilight on the other side. She can open the portal for you, if that’s what you want.”

“No, you don’t understand!” Sonata replied. She sat up, lifting her knees up to her chin. She stared off into the distance again. “We can’t go back. You’ve destroyed our pendants, the very source of who we are. Or were.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I don’t follow.”

Sonata chuckled. “Oh, I’m great at following! You only do what others tell you to do. No worries.”

“What I meant was—”

“I know what you meant, I’m not stupid. I know I’m not smart, but I’m not that stupid, at least,” Sonata said. “I just don’t know how to explain it to you. Dagie, she would do it so much better.” She glanced at Sunset. “Have you ever been a siren? Have you ever roamed free over the land, as a bodiless spirit? Like, you know, the one through which we attacked you?”

Sunset didn’t know much about sirens, save for what Twilight told her and the others. “They didn’t seem tangible, if that’s what you’re going for,” she replied. “Keep in mind that I am a pony transformed into human. The transition was a bit confusing, but not bad overall.”

Sonata shook her head. “It was easier for you, because you’ve changed from one physical form to another. I was never limited by these,” she said, wiggling her arms like a drunken octopus. “I wasn’t born into anything like it, and because of that, Star Swirl’s banishing magic could barely figure out what to put where.”

“Do you mean you’ve lost something during the process?”

“Not until recently. You see, a siren’s power comes from her ‘heart’, and gets outside as music. Through a song. A hum. A chant. It’s not this beating one,” Sonata lowered her feet off the seat and pointed at her chest. “Creatures back home like sirens, windigos, or celestials do not have these.”

“Go on.”

Sonata stared at her sneakers. Her voice was trembling, more with each spoken word. “Although they were part of us in Equestria, our ‘heart’ manifested themselves as ruby pendants in this world. We... we still exist because we were given new form, but if we try to go back to Equestria, we will be incomplete. And we will cease to be.”

Sonata lifted her head and looked at Sunset. Her eyes were all watery.

“You wanted to know why I’m still here? I chose to stay, because I choose to live!” she said. “I don’t want to go, Sunset. I don’t want to.”

Sunset had the idea of how Sonata could feel. She felt the same way after she found out she could no longer use her unicorn magic. This was her greatest talent back there, her cutie mark proved that, but in this world she was a blank flank all over again. The only difference between her and the other girl was that her magic hadn’t been taken away from her entirely, and once she returned to Equestria—if ever—she would be able to tap into the streams again. Sonata, on the other hand, was deprived of her magic. Whoever she was, and whatever she represented, had been destroyed along with the pendants. Gone forever.

Sunset moved closer. “Hey, it’s alright. You don’t have to go,” she assured. “You can even stay at my place if you want. Principal Celestia will surely help you get necessary things so you could study at CHS. We’re all going to help you!”

Sonata burst out, her breath ragged and her cheeks glistening with heavy tears. “Why would you? You were with them, and we were awful to them! To all of you! Why would you care about me? Why would you care about someone who doesn’t even know what she has become?”

“Because I believe in something.”

“Believe in what?”

Sunset’s lips twitched into a slightly asymmetric smirk. She reached out and pulled Sonata into a tight hug.

“Friendship.”

Dear Princess Twilight,

One of the Dazzlings, Sonata Dusk, has decided to stay at CHS, and Principal Celestia made me her “guardian angel”. Not bad for a former she-demon, huh? I won’t be keeping tabs on her, of course, it’s more like taking care of her. Funny, I never had to take care of anyone but myself. It feels good.

It’s much too early to share any useful observations, but did you know that Sonata was the one who made that fruit punch for the kickoff party? Personally I think it was delicious. I have a hunch that this is just one of the many things she will surprise us with in the days to come.

Gotta go. Say hi to Spike for me!

Your friend,
Sunset Shimmer

Author's Notes:

Done already? How about a sequel?