Slumping over in her seat, Sonata frowned. "So, yea, drinking wasn't always fun."

Pinkie gently pat her back. The two had moved to a couple of chairs set against a wall while discussing the sirens' experiences with alcohol, which, as Pinkie had anticipated, was not all wacky antics and silly stories to share.

"But, heck," Sonata said with a tiny grin, "I'd gladly take being hung over instead of just ordinary sick, y'know? At least with drinking, it's your own fault when you wake up feeling like you wanna die, but colds and the flu feel like you're getting punished for nothing!"

"Do you guys get sick a lot? 'Cuz I heard about foreign cultures having a hard time with diseases in new lands in History class." Nobody got sick after the sirens' first visit, so she figured they weren't on the carrier side if that was gonna be a thing.

"Not all that much. Our immune systems are pretty good (I don't know if it was because of the gems or not), so it was usually just one of us every couple of years or so." She giggled. "Aria always gets so pitiful, spending the whole time whining and complaining and going 'Uuggh, kill meeee' and stuff, but she's so pathetic about it that it's hard not to feel bad for her, y'know?"

Pinkie smiled, making a back-of-her-head note about this. "You guys took care of each other?"

"Well, duh, it'd only take longer to get better if we didn't!"

"Guess so," Pinkie said through a giggle-snort.

She and the others hadn't been formally asked to keep an eye out for any good points they could uncover about the sirens, by Sunset or Twilight, but their time with Sunset had come with a message of remembering the positives and always looking on the bright side. Not that Pinkie hoped they'd need to be able to list the ways the Dazzlings were okay people if someone had an emotional breakdown or something later on, but she darn sure didn't want another Anon-A-Miss moment, thank you very much!

"Dagi is way less fun, though, because she always hides it from us until it gets worse and she starts getting crazy, going all 'no really, I'm totally fine!' and we have to wrangle her into bed with ropes, chains, and padlocks." Well, except for that one time...

"You chased her down and lasso'd her to get her to rest?"

"Uhh..." Sonata blushed and looked away. "S-sure, let's go with that."

Blinkie Pie. "Okie dokie lokie? I guessed lassos because Applejack is sorta the same when she gets sick." So much for that 'an apple a day' thing. "One time, we actually had to hog-tie her, which probably didn't help with the getting-better process!" Sonata's giggles drew a grin. "I don't get sick very much either, but when I do, I know it's best to stay in bed."

"Yea, I kinda do the same thing whenever it's my turn."

"And the others take care of you?"

"Usually just Dagi, but there was this one time..."

Of course, thought Aria, figures this happens today.

Adagio had left early in the morning (the last few years having somehow turned her into not just a morning person, but one of those mutant freaks who get up before the sun had fully risen) to make arrangements for what was going to be their new home, where they should finally have more room than they could ever need for all the crud they'd accumulated over the last... twenty years or so? Aria guessed that they could have just dumped stuff off somewhere, but as this world was very materialistic, the three of them were hesitant to cast off the material wealth they'd built up, even when they had no idea what to do with half of it.

Unfortunately, Aria had awoken to find that Sonata had come down with something, leaving her as the only one around to deal with it. This meant going to the trouble of making that soup they made whenever one of them got sick, helping Sonata get around the house if she was really feeling weak, and generally being there to wait on her hand and foot.

Foot was a good word, because it was the means by which Aria had been oh so lucky enough to discover the proof of Sonata's sickness splattered all over the kitchen floor. The joyous task of cleaning that up also fell to her, of course, because even if she tried to reason in her head that they'd be moving soon, they'd still have to drag stuff over the puke patch and there was no way she wanted to live with the smell for the remainder of their time here.

Note to self; next time you're sick, just barf directly in Sonata's sleeping face.

No, no, she couldn't do that, she'd never hear the end of it. Not after the frat party.

When she had wrapped up with all the crud she had to do, it was time to bring Sonata her soup. Fortunately, Sonata kept to pattern and had fallen asleep (in her own bed this time!) after her purge. Unfortunately, she had done so stark naked, which at least meant that her puke-spattered clothes were already in the laundry basket. Still, it left Aria with the uncomfortable task of shuffling into Sonata's room while carefully averting her eyes long enough to get to the nightstand, set the soup down, and begin the awkward game of blindly feeling about for the edges of the bedsheets with which to cover the sickly doofus.

With accidental touching, she could wash her hands and feel clean, but accidental seeing would make life very, very uncomfortable for about a week. The day the two of them joined forces to convince Adagio not to leave her room unclothed had been a hard-fought battle with heavy casualties, but so, so worth it when they could look their shameless leader in the eye without awkwardness.

Anyway, when Sonata was a warm, snug, siren-blanket burrito, Aria actually looked at her. She really was pathetic, her hair all strewn about, her precious fringe a mess of strands stuck to her forehead with sweat, and her lips parted to form a little 'o', like she was at another burger joint and waiting for her bendy-straw. The sight of it actually made Aria bark out a laugh in surprise, though she immediately slapped a hand to her mouth. If Sonata didn't wake up, Aria wouldn't have to keep her company in case she needed something, so she tensed up a little when Sonata started to stir.

"No, no," Aria whispered, taking a seat on the bed while gently trying to hold Sonata in place with both hands, "stay asleep, dream of weird candy and a new Last Daydream installment. Or, at least forgetting an old one so you can play through it again."

It was difficult to say whether or not this worked, because somewhere in the process of trying to keep Sonata asleep, Aria noticed a blue hand very lightly holding her wrist. Sonata didn't move, didn't speak, and her eyes didn't so much crack open a hair. Veeeery carefully, Aria seized Sonata's pinkie finger with her free hand to pull it back and extract herself one finger at a time, but (appropriately, somehow) when she got to the middle finger, Sonata's hand sprung to life and seized her again, pulling her in closer while the questionably sleeping siren made a plaintive little noise, her eyebrows knitting together in protest.

Resisting the impulse to just rip her arm away, Aria grumbled. "Ain't a teddy bear, you little dunce, that's-" Realization hitting her, she glanced to the nearest corner of Sonata's bed to see the green, fuzzy gorilla plushie (it had been noticed sticking out of Adagio's hair at some point the last time they went to a circus, no one they asked knew where it came from, so Adagio gave it to Sonata) sitting in its usual post. The angling was tricky, but Aria managed to bend her free arm around to grab it, set it by her side, and start again on loosening Sonata's fingers to make the switch.

It took twelve minutes of slow, painstaking effort to get free without disturbing the hand too much, and she'd had to hold the gorilla with her teeth so she could drop it into Sonata's grip when she yanked her hand away, but while she did manage to free herself, it hadn't worked perfectly. Sonata, still asleep, grabbed the gorilla, but let go of it almost as fast and made this pitiful, anguished little sound. Combined with that noise, in a weird moment of empathy, Aria could practically read her face.

'Where are you going? What did I do wrong? Why are you leaving me? I'm sorry, please come back! Please?'

But Aria was free now. It wasn't her problem, and when Sonata woke up, she wouldn't even remember the dream in which she was probably a dumb, lost puppy and her owner finally got sick of her pissing on the kitchen floor or whatever. She could go now. Let Sonata sleep and Adagio would take care of her when she got back later.

Low and weak, Sonata let out another whimper, a tiny "Nuu..."

Looking at the least powerful member of their group, always the last to harmonize in their songs (by a very short margin, but she noticed, dammit), always slowest on the uptake, almost always the one to blame when something went wrong, never her equal even since the day they met, Aria sighed, walked over, sat on the bed again, and brushed her forearm over Sonata's fingertips.

As though not believing it at first, Sonata groped about with both hands (luckily without disturbing her bedsheet enough to expose anything) before tightly seizing Aria's arm, hugging it happily as her face shifted to a grin of blissful contentment, like everything in the universe had been solved forever.

Shaking her head, Aria used her free hand to ruffle Sonata's fringe some more.

"You know something? You really are the worst."

Pinkie held both hands to her cheeks. "Awwww!!"

Sonata looked less affected by the tale of a tender moment, making an irritable face and resting her hands on her hips. "Yea, I know, but my fringe was a total mess when I woke up!"

"I'll bet," giggled Pinkie, who then tilted her head, confused. "Wait, if you were asleep the whole time, how do you know about this?"

"Because I told her."

Both jumped at the voice of Adagio, who had appeared over Pinkie's shoulder without her or Sonata noticing. Perhaps more startling was her new outfit, which made her look bookish, but... eye-catching. Pinkie didn't want to use the words 'sexy librarian' to describe a new/potential friend, so she'd wait for someone else to say it.

"Well," Adagio elaborated, "Aria told me when I demanded to know why I found them sleeping in the same bed (I had some ideas about it that needed dubunking on account of one being naked, you see), and then I passed the story on to Sonata when-" Sonata's sudden frown and 'please don't' eyes made her stop. "...When the time seemed right." Sonata looked grateful for this, so she chose then to change the subject. "So, what are we up to over here?"

Quickly getting up to bring another chair over and arrange a little three-chair circle, Pinkie smiled. "Talking about stuff you guys did!" She pat the new chair twice before being seated again, smiling a little wider when Adagio accepted her offer of seatedness. Seatedness was next to friendliness. Maybe. "What's it like living so long, anyway?"

Sonata and Adagio shared a look, as though uncertain how to answer the question off the top of their heads.

"Well," Sonata said while idly scratching her head, "I guess it was pretty shocking when we noticed it."

"Huh?"

"Yes," nodded Adagio, "shocking is a good word. It was ten years before we were sure we weren't aging anymore, but the revelation most definitely took us by surprise." Following a short pause, she pointed at Pinkie. "Yes, that face is a good demonstration."

"I think," Rainbow Dash offered while pulling up her own chair, just slightly disappointed that no one looked as surprised when she popped up, "she's more surprised about the 'not aging anymore' part, 'cuz I know I am. I thought you guys were like, primordial doom-spirits made of pure evil, ravaging the world since the dawn of time or something."

"Hmph," Adagio hmph'd as she folded her arms and narrowed her eyes, a motion mimicked by Sonata, "well, so sorry to disappoint you."

Realizing her error, Rainbow was distantly glad that Applejack wasn't there to thwap her on the head as she placatingly raised both hands, an apologetic smile on her face. "I mean, that was what I thought back when we first heard about you guys from Twilight, before we knew anything about you." Both sirens looked considerably less offended, but she made the mental note of thin ice anyway. "So, uh... the not-aging thing... Story?"

Sonata scratched her head. "Um... We kinda just, stopped growing, once we got here. Never figured out why."

"Well, I have a few theories," mused Adagio, "but the one I've been going with for the past couple decades is that our magic must have manifested... oddly, in these bodies. Over in Equestria, we were much more powerful, but still mortal, the same as just about anyone else."

Visibly worried, Rainbow scratched her head. "Does, does that mean we stopped aging too? Because eternal youth sounds great on paper and all, but I'd at least like to be a little older before I get stuck with the same body forever."

Adagio shrugged. "You're running on a different kind of magic than what we used, so whether or not there are side-effects is something you'll have to take up with your princess." It tickled her a little that Rainbow didn't look any less unsettled by the idea.

"Yea... cool... nothin' to worry about, then."

"Well it was scary for us," huffed Sonata, "'cuz when we were sure we'd stopped getting older, we totally thought we were gonna be trapped in a magicless world forever!" There came a pause. "Which I guess is hard to sympathize with for you guys..."

Pinkie managed to smile anyway. "I think I get it, sorta. It'd be like if we were sent to a world with no candy, chocolate, or icing, and then learned we'd never, ever kick the bucket! And, couldn't just invent that stuff. Which I guess sorta breaks the metaphor a little."

"Haha, I guess! But, mainly it was the total hopelessness of ever getting back to where we wanted to be, our goal in life (which I know was evil and all, but still) made pretty much impossible in the long run, and no sign that we weren't just gonna be stuck here forever. Then you guys came along, raised our hopes way up, and crushed our dreams for good, which sucked for months, and, um... then, uh..." Sonata's smile quickly slipped away. "Hey, Dagi, how does this not totally suck again?"

Sonata had said and done a lot of stupid things over the years, but Adagio could have kissed her for the perfect set-ups she occasionally delivered, even if they were by accident.

"Because," she answered calmly, "while it was painful having our meaning in life irrevocably torn from us, it meant we not only could, but had to move on. While we weren't exactly destitute for the duration, it wasn't as if we spent all the last thirty years in luxury either. As Sonata said, there were low points, there were trying times, and gathering enough power to keep going was a near-constant worry throughout. Over these last months, however, I wouldn't have preferred living this way as opposed to being surrounded by adoring servants at all times, but having had time to think about it? Scraping by for the last few decades wasn't a delight either, because we even spent our good days searching for a way back to Equestria." Her voice quiet, she made a small, but genuine grin. "Now we can breathe."

She could see on their faces that Pinkie and Rainbow were internally agonizing about whether or not to tell her about the way back to Equestria again, but she focused on Sonata. Judging by her vacant smile, she was either playing along or believed every word. Even if Adagio had no idea how they would reclaim the power they'd spent their whole lives working for, let alone revenge for losing that power, the breathing part had been true. For now, at the very least, they didn't have to worry about another harvest for the foreseeable future.

We will still need some kind of power, though. If we succeed in learning their tricks, will we be able to siphon the same friendship-based energies just by acting like the Rainbooms do? And, if it worked, would we be able to use it however we wanted, or be limited to shooting down opposing forces? Even if we could feasibly gain some amount of good will with the latter if something else ever showed up, these girls would most likely do it before we could. If it doesn't work and we don't gain any magic at all, we should at least have some newer, 'nicer' manipulation methods by the end of tonight. Or, longer, if they don't find a reason to shun us.

She came out of her thoughts to find Sonata, Pinkie, and Rainbow talking to Rarity, which at least meant no one noticed her spacing out again. Perhaps the last few decades of only talking with Aria and Sonata on a regular basis had had some kind of effe-

Focus, you idiot!!

"I dunno," Sonata said while uncertainly rubbing one arm, "I kinda like what I've got now."

"It shouldn't take terribly long," Rarity said in faintly pleading tone, "and I promise you'll come out of it looking just darling!"

"Yea," Pinkie chimed in while pointing at Adagio, "just look what she did for her!"

Registering what was going on and what Rarity was most likely asking for, Adagio again silently thanked Sonata for the lead-up. "The process may take some time," she said while reaching back to brush a hand along her downward-hanging ponytail, the thin ribbon holding it together tied just over the nape of her neck, "but I can assure you that the selection is as lovely as it is wide, and-" she winked, "-she'll be gentle with you even if it's your first time!"

That last part got two wide-eyed stares from Pinkie and Rainbow, the bewildered looks only magnified when they noticed how red Rarity had gotten.

"Rarity," Rainbow said slowly as she raised one eyebrow, an amused smile tugging at her lips, "what were you doing...?"

"N-nothing!"

Pinkie tilted her head, having a hard time keeping a straight face for this. "Then where'd the new outfit come from?"

Adagio took a special kind of delight in the way Rarity sputtered. "I, we, well, obviously we weren't doing nothing, but garments were only removed for completely chaste purposes!"

"Right," Rainbow snickered. "Y'know, I think we get what you meant when you were talking about getting your hands on her now!"

"Her hair," Rarity nearly shrieked in clarification, nervously glancing about to see just how many heads were taking this conversation out of context, "I was talking about her hair!!"

Pinkie beamed. "But you still got her to take her clothes off?"

"Ugh!"

As the nearby Rainbooms went on with their (good-natured, from the little smiles all three were wearing) teasing, Adagio discreetly whispered to Sonata.

"What have you picked up so far?"

A familiar look of confusion on her face, she whispered back. "Huh?"

Sonata forgot the plan. Perhaps that's for the best; she can't blurt out what she doesn't remember, right?

Unfortunately, she needed to know if Sonata had learned anything yet, but maybe she'd forget it again a while later? Or at least not go spilling everything, that would be lovely too. "Ways of making them talk, the reason we're-"

"Oh! Um... Well, when I told Pinkie I didn't wanna talk about any of my not-so-fun drinking funtimes (you remember, before I started getting Aria to come with me?), she stopped smiling for just a sec, nodded once, and made this little grin as she said it was okay, that I didn't have to tell her, but the way she smiled was sorta cute and that totally made me wanna tell her! So I guess, like... I'unno, have you tried doing something kiddie?"

"...'Kiddie'?"

Internally, Sonata roared with pride for having spent so many hours in the past few decades playing JRPGs, where cutesy, child-like characters were common and their mannerisms were something she was well familiar with. "Like, holding your hands together over your lap without bending your elbows, making big, wide eyes, and a little smile! Helps if you duck your head down a little too!"

"Hm... You once described a little girl, from the day we arrived he-"

"Yep, that's where it started!"

Adagio pulled her in for a quick nuzzle. "Good girl, Sonata."

Sonata giggled with glee at the rare praise, inadvertently giving Adagio a good idea of what kind of expression to make when trying that new manipulation method. Unfortunately, looking back at the Rainbooms revealed three grins that said they'd seen her doing this, drawing a blush and a bashful smile.

"Haha, we, I was, just assuring her that the makeover process is easy, painless, and noninvasive." Whether she bought it or not, Rarity seemed to appreciate this.

"Oh, naturally! So what do you say, Miss Dusk, could I interest you in a new ensemble?"

"Well..." Standing up, Sonata smiled. "I don't know about one of those, but I'd be okay with some new duds!"

"Yes, of course," Rarity chuckled as she led Sonata by the arm, "right this way, please..."

While the two of them headed for Rarity's room, Pinkie looked down at her phone to answer a text message. "Oh, sprinkles, we're running low on snacks!" She gave Rainbow and Adagio an apologetic frown. "I gotta go whip up some more grub, can't have a party without tasty face-stuffing!" Well, you could, according to dangerous lunatics who should be watched carefully, but Pinkie refused to hear such blasphemy as she gave the two a peppy smile. "Back in a bit!"

And off she went, but before Adagio could utter a single syllable, Rainbow gave her a frown of her own. "I should probably go help her. Long story, but this isn't the first time she's tried to restock the snack table during a party and I'd rather make sure she doesn't go overboard again." Carefully darting through the crowd after Pinkie, the last Adagio saw of her was a waving hand. "Catch ya later, though!"

Sitting in silence, Adagio felt just a little bit cheated.

They could have at least asked me if I'd like to help, or waited long enough to let me offer. I don't know much about cooking, but I'm sure I could have done some simple, unobtrusive task while listening to them speak.

Well, maybe they were doing her a favor. Rarity certainly wouldn't react well if Adagio got covered in flour and/or frosting if things got hectic with Pinkie at the mixing bowl, and while sparking conflict between two or more Rainbooms might have been easy that way, she no longer had anything to gain from stirring up negative energy.

No matter. She would just... sit here. Alone. No one else in the room was looking at her all that much, so she could at least focus on the first Rainboom she saw, and within minutes, her patience was rewarded with none other than Sunset Shimmer walking into the room! Not only was she by herself as well, but she smiled the second she caught sight of Adagio.

Walking over, Sunset kept her smile. "Heya. What are you doing by yourself over here?"

"Um..."

Damn, forgot to think of even one cover story!!

Truly, she had been out of the game for too long, which left her to fall back on improv. "Well, I found Pinkie Pie and Sonata here, Rainbow Dash and Rarity showed up, then all of them left for one reason or another. Does that happen often?"

"Haha, kinda." It had happened a few times with the people that held her up talking while she'd been looking for the Dazzlings, at least. There was always the option to just blow them off, but she didn't want to risk looking rude at a party, especially considering what it meant that people actually wanted to talk to her again. "So," she said while indicating Adagio's cute new outfit, "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Rarity took Sonata upstairs."

Adagio nodded. "It sounded that way, yes. Does that happen often?"

"Eh, it varies."

Play cool, Sunset.

Briefly looking her over, she gave Adagio an emphatic grin. "You look great, by the way."

The instinctive response to such sentiments was a coy smirk and a remark on the obviousness of the statement, and perhaps a flirty wink if the atmosphere was right, but thinking back to Sonata's suggestion, she opted to test out the new technique. Carefully watching Sunset's face, Adagio clutched her hands together while otherwise holding her arms down straight, lowered her head just enough for it to be noticeable, and gave Sunset a bright, wide-eyed look with a little smile as she said "Thank you!"

Sunset Shimmer was a pretty smart girl. Through only light study, she had mastered multiple forms of advanced magic before even taking Celestia's entry test, only getting better from there. Along with it, she had become knowledgeable on many academic subjects, and was the go-to person for tutoring among her friends. In spite of this, her heart had a way of taking control from her head, leading her to do some very unwise things. It happened when she stormed out on Celestia and charged through the mirror, it happened when she stole the crown she had half a clue how to actually use, it happened a few more times during Twilight's first foray into this world, it happened when Rainbow was about to reveal her magic (which it turned out the sirens already knew about...) too early during the Battle of the Bands, and most recently, when she caught sight of Adagio in that adorably dorky outfit, especially those little glasses, smiling sweetly as she performed an achingly cute gesture at her.

All that escaped her throat was a hoarse whisper muttered through trembling lips on an increasingly warm face, which (fortunately?) shifted Adagio's expression to one of confusion.

"Sunset? Is something wrong?"

"I-" A dozen half-baked excuses all scrambled and fell over each other in the doorway of her mind, none intelligible in the frantic dash for a response. "I should wear pants!" She felt herself rapidly grow warmer as Adagio blinked very slowly. "I mean, Rarity, pants with, I m-mean, she does all kindsa clothes, so, never got one myself, for, err, a makeover, I mean, after the-" She started talking faster. "I mean, not that you guys are 'after' or before or, youprobablydon'tevenknowwhatI'm- y-y'know I think I'll go see if I can get my turn after Sonata, bye!"

By some miracle, she didn't slam into anyone in her hasty retreat before locking herself in a bathroom to cool down.

So, what happened to playing it cool?

Oh, Brain, nice of you to report back to work today. Where were you when I needed you?!

Not my fault you reroute all control to Heart whenever it acts up. I told you we should have taken Celestia's discipline lectures seriou-

Ohh, shut up!

Sitting on the edge of the bathtub, she sighed.

I shouldn't even be thinking about her like... like that. Not yet, anyway. Friends. The plan was to help the sirens along in making friends, a bit like Twilight did for me, only while actively overseeing the process.

That was her goal tonight: Make sure that the three of them could get along with the students of CHS, or at least her own friends, then help them along to find the kind of peaceful, happy life she'd settled into, dealing with all their past pains and heartaches when they were good and ready.

...But, before that, I've still got a tiny apology to offer. Or three. Depends how they feel.

Give or take the dozen or so other people in the room at the time, Adagio had been alone just a minute ago, so maybe she'd still be there by the time Sunset was done cooling off.

Remembering that face, however, the look of those gleaming, magenta eyes through the frames of her spectacles, did nothing to speed this process.

Still sitting where Sunset had left her, Adagio stayed quiet for several moments.

...Well, I must have gotten that wrong.

It figured, really, she should have practiced the technique before trying it out on someone, something she would be sure to do when she got home later tonight. That was arguably a useful tip in itself; not to try whatever they picked up tonight without careful analysis and practice, so flubbing Sonata's suggestion so badly as to make Sunset tear off in a panic wasn't a complete waste! That was what she decided to tell herself as she idly looked around, staying put in case Rainbow and Pinkie returned.

Now where is Aria...?

Author's Notes:

Some stories I pick up and write and write and write, but some others only get trickles of words at a time for most of the year. I hope to bump this one up from paragraph-or-so-every-several-weeks status.

Theory on the sirens' longevity for interpretations in which they have it: Magical weirdness, not necessarily gem-based immortality! I like to think that softens the blow a bit; that they're not quite losing their eternal lives so much as regaining their mortality. Easier to swallow if the extended lifespans (while trapped in a world they did not like) came as a shock to them, maybe.

Theory on Sunset's many derpy moments while supposedly being so intelligent from reading A Dazzling Sunset.

...Her borderline fetish for the nerdy look, however, is something I made up a year or two ago. And, based on her lack of reaction to Sci-Twi, isn't even true. Shame.