Coffee, the life blood of all students in university, the only stimulant powerful and cheap enough to allow young minds the near magical power to produce the work their instructors invariably attempt to squeeze out of them. It is for this precious dark liquid that wars have been fought, and recently, it is for this magical substance that one Sunset Shimmer is considering committing felony assault.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie understands your words Mortal, but she simply must insist that you refund the cost of her order!” The screeching tone from the purple robed woman in front of Sunset was the secondary reason for her current headache, and a primary reason for her considering violence in a public place. It had been ten minutes of this back and fourth, ten long coffee-less minutes, and Sunset was reaching critical mass.

“Just a large coffee, two sugars, that’s all I want, not world peace, just some coffee,” Sunset thought rubbing her temples trying to keep the urge to violence just beneath the surface. Looking up Sunset took in the haunting sight of the carafe of coffee, just ten feet ahead of her full of the delicious, headache relieving, black gold, it was the precious and she needed it.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie will have her refund, in no way should my veinte half calf no foam soy low sugar caramel spice latte have had whipped cream, any competent barista would know that much!”

Trixie’s voice rang out with incredulity at the gall of the very idea that any person might make such an unforgivable error in drink construction. It was at this point that two things happened, the first being Sunset Shimmer forming her hand into a fist preparing to commit as much violence as possible, and the second being a fast moving orange ball of curls sweeping in front of Sunset, placing a hand on hers as it went, and stepping directly in front of Trixie

“Trixie further MUGH-!” Trixie had ranted too long it seemed, for as the large mound of golden hair stepped in front of her Trixie found herself inhaling an overlarge amount of it.

“Yes, three medium light roasts with cream, and whatever she’s having please,” Came the flat voice of one Adagio Dazzle, her thumb now pointing past the struggling headless midnight blue figure wrestling to the death with her hair, and straight back to a shocked Sunset Shimmer. The Barista looked to sunset, and shrugged, not knowing what to do himself other than be grateful to the woman that delivered him from his nightmare.

“Um, large coffee, dark roast two sugars please.” Sunset stated simply with a nervous chuckle, holding two fingers up. The Barista nodded, and set to work gathering the very simple drinks with speed that was telling of just how long he’d been a campus barista, and as he handed Adagio the recycled cardboard container with the drinks in it and accepted her payment, for a price well below even two small coffees, Trixie finally freed herself. With a mighty gasp to fill her now depleted lungs, her face shining pink with frustration and anger she spoke

“I NEV-GRK” getting out two syllables before Adagio turned on her heels, quick like lightning and snapping the humungous mound of hairs behind her, though not before striking Trixie as they passed around her body. Sunset was amazed by this for two reasons, the first being that to pivot at a full 180 degrees with such speed was something she’d only managed to accomplish after several years of martial arts classes, the second because despite the laws of physics, Trixie flew to the left three feet, and was knocked cleanly on her ass. Now were this any other person, on any other day Sunset likely would have been on the floor herself, holding her sides and sobbing with laughter. However, Adagio Dazzle, indeed the three Dazzlings had not spoken to a single member of the Rainbooms since the battle of the bands almost three years prior, and with Canterlot University occupying a space the size of a small town Sunset hadn't seen much of them since her senior year at CHS.

Adagio walked beside Sunset motioning for her to follow “No offense to the establishment, but I’d rather not be around when miss magical finally comes around”, and with a saunter that was just a bit less suggestive hip swaying than her norm Adagio left Sunset standing, wide-eyed and mouth slacked in her dust.

“What in all of Equestria was that?! Did that seriously just happen or is this-“

Sunset’s train of thought was cut off by the silky voice of Adagio. “Are you coming or did I buy this coffee for no one?” At this point Sunset was three things too much not to follow the former siren: curious, grateful, and in dire need of her coffee. So with a single long breath to calm her mind and nerves Sunset followed after Adagio, leaving a very confused Trixie, and entertained Barista.

* * * * * *

Adagio sauntered out the doors of Canterlot University onto the picturesque courtyard of the Filthy Rich School of Business where she was finally caught by Sunset. The first thing Sunset noticed was the change in Adagio’s look, she was every bit as imposing as she’d been at CHS, but gone was the ornate bad girl look, replaced instead by a simple, yet form fitting pair of jeans, and a CU hoodie. It was a simple look, and yet the manner in which it accentuated the siren did nothing to detract from her air of seduction. “You know if you enjoy what you see I’ll let you take a picture,” Came the sultry tone of Adagio, causing a now blushing Sunset to falter and shake her head.

“No, what I just, Adagio we haven’t spoken at all since the battle of the bands, so um, forgive me if I’m a little unsure as to what’s going on,” she babbled out the first part like a nervous teenager that had been caught ogling, but managed to finish with an air of confidence. Little had changed from Sunset, she still rocked her leather jacket and jeans like the rocker she’d come to be seen as, the only real difference was that she had finally managed to strike a balance between her former queen bitch attitude, and her overly nice attitude, lending a refreshing air of strength and softness to her character, and making her quite popular amongst her classmates. Of course, that may have just been the low cut tank top she had also taken to wearing on the advice of Rarity, “If you can tastefully flaunt your assets, always do so darling” Sunset chuckled remembering that conversation and was immediately brought back to Earth by Adagio.

“I’m not going to try and be sneaky about this, I admit up front we've been avoiding all of you, and while Sonata and Aria have their own reasons, I’ll tell you mine stem from dealing with my listless frustration surrounding the situation,” Adagio sighed and sat down at one of the many green plastic tables that the school had set out for students. She looked penitent in that moment, but she didn't look sad or lonely, more lethargic, and taking her seat and coffee Sunset looked at her puzzled.

“We all suspected that you three were having some difficulty adjusting, and we tried to find you, tried talking, but despite that you always gave us the cold shoulder, hell you three virtually didn't speak for two years, and now you appear out of the blue and say all that was because you felt lost?” Sunset wasn't angry, she was confused. This whole situation made positively no sense to her, when she had been defeated during the fall formal it had burned out a great deal of her anger, and with the help of her friends she had overcome most of her issues, but Adagio didn't have that.

“Oh I know, it must be rather strange that I simply feel lost, you’d think that without our dark magic we’d crave vengeance, or maybe try to reform on some off chance that we felt guilty for our actions, but I feel no shame in what we did, nor do I feel anger in losing… At least not anymore.” Adagio looked to Sunset and smiled confidently, her demeanor shifting back to something closer to normal. She picked up one of the coffees and took a sip looking to Sunset and shaking her head “Honestly such a subject is far too heavy for this early in the day, I would prefer to get to the reason I sought you out, and yes before you ask I did come looking for you specifically,” Adagio stated plainly holding a hand up just as Sunset was about to speak.

“You see, Aria, Sonata, and myself have been discussing our situation in this world,” Adagio interlaced her fingers and gave a contemplative look directly through Sunset “We've lived for millennia Sunset Shimmer, we’re not unwise creatures, and to the best of our knowledge our lives are nowhere close to being over, but something fundamental has changed,” Adagio looked directly into Sunset’s eyes and said “We have always craved adoration and desire, but when that magical blast hit us it destroyed the part of us that fed on those emotions,”

This revelation alone made Sunset curious enough to interject “How would you know that without magic to detect that such a portion of you was gone, and doesn't that kinda seem like a good thing?” Sunset was truly curious at this point, the older woman’s wisdom was obvious, and there was little doubt that Sunset would be unable to out-think her, indeed Sunset now doubted that without sheer dumb luck that they’d have ever defeated the Dazzlings…

“We didn’t loose all of our magic, just as you Rainbooms are connected to Equestria so too are we, and much like yourself Sunset Shimmer we share a deeper connection than the humans do, but we have lost a tremendous amount of our power, but I’ll not go into the details about as much. It’s not our loss of power that concerns us, power waxes and wanes Sunset, we’re over as much, but there is something we’re concerned about,” Adagio looked into Sunset’s eyes for a long moment and gathered her thoughts seeming to have difficulty in articulating her problem. “You see, we Sirens have always desired adoration, and have often taken great pleasure in the strife that our magic brought about.” Adagio focused again into the space beyond Sunset and as though in a trance continued “Our powers were great and terrible, wars were waged on our behalf, and every second of it was ecstasy. Then when we were banished to the human world, our power was diminished, and we grew angry at the general lack of strife in this world,"

She focused again on Sunset and remained quiet for a moment carefully considering her next words “I don’t crave strife anymore Sunset Shimmer, I wish for some degree of adoration, I want for success, but something that happened that night took away my lust for conflict, and that frightens me,” Adagio’s eyes became softer than Sunset had ever seen, it was no great crack in her armor or any other cliché, but Sunset felt something for the siren in that moment, she felt remorse.

“I think I understand, the desire to sow strife and toy with people had always been with you, and after all the centuries now that the impulse is gone you feel unsure…” Sunset took a sip of her coffee now, and sighed “OK I get that, and I know what you’re feeling, I guess that’s why you came after me first huh?” Sunset said setting her cup down and giving Adagio a small smile, “When I had a similar magical treatment I lost a lot of the part of me that wanted to take over the world, almost like that part of me had been burned away.”

Adagio nodded knowingly “Yes, the logic we seemed to come up with is that the magic that Twilight posses has some ability to purify whoever it’s used on,” She took another sip of her coffee, and shook her head “in essence she removed the part of us that enjoyed or desired those things, though likely without knowing it,” Sunset nodded at this and sighed.

“Yeah, and I’m guessing you guys are grappling with the same issue I fought with, did you lose your choice, or freedom when you got blasted.” Sunset shook her head and smiled gently “Well when I lost that part of myself it helped to have something to keep my mind off of it, I focused on trying to prove to everyone that I learned my lesson, and spending time with my friends.” Sunset drained the last of her coffee and stood up “Oh and you two can stop hiding; I would love to get all three of you in on this.”

Two figures stood up from the bushes that outlined the courtyard the pair were seated at. Sonata just waved happily at Sunset, and for her part Aria attempted a smile that looked a little less than malicious. Adagio chuckled and shook her head “Can’t even fool a foal anymore, girls I believe we've lost our touch,” standing herself Adagio motioned her two oldest companions over “Come on you two, we may as well all be here when we ask for redemption”

At this Sunset chuckled and shook her head “Adagio I really don’t think you need some kind of forgiveness, we all forgave you, well except Trixie she may still hold a grudge.” Adagio cracked a wicked grin at this, more or less confirming Sunset’s suspicion about the coffee incident “Tell you three what, why don’t we all hang out, just the four of us bad girls, and talk about what we've been through. After that we can start introducing everyone to the good… Well less evil Dazzlings, whadya say?” Sunset smiled openly, considering the kind of trouble she could get into with the three former sirens, sure she was reformed, and a good girl now, but at heart she still had the bad girl edge to her.

Adagio for her part looked a little surprised. She had honestly been expecting a less easy introduction to friendship, and she had definitely assumed that Sunset would go immediately to the other girls, but a chance for a night with just one new friend, and one that could actually empathize? “That sounds lovely Sunset Shimmer.”

“Great! So gameplan, meet me at my apartment, 1225 Brumby lane 8:30, and wear something warm, I have something I wanna show you guys, helped me a lot when I was where you are,” Sunset looked to her watch and sighed “alright, time for me to hit a class, literally, seeya tonight ladies!” Sunset tossed her cup in the recycling bin, and strode away, and were Adagio a few centuries younger, she’d have sworn the former unicorn was swaying her hips just a bit more than was necessary.

“Well she seems chipper about all of this,” Said Aria, her eyes following Sunset till she turned the corner and headed out of sight .

“Yeah, but she’s being super nice, and she totally gets us! Oh man maybe she’ll finally be able to get you two sour-pusses to smile for real again,” Came Sonata who had taken to brushing off the blue Taco’s on wheels shirt she had on.

“Just because we haven’t found the magical salvation that is tacos doesn't mean that we never smile Sona dear, but I am hoping she can help us with these… Feelings.” Adagio turned towards her two closest friends and sighed “I think it best for us to try and make this work, that girl actually seemed excited to help us, though it could have been the coffee kicking in…” Adagio tapped her chin contemplatively “Wait, did she say hit class literally? What in Equestria does that mean?” Adagio pondered as her two friends shrugged.

* * * * * *

The second punch slammed off of Sunset Shimmer’s raised elbow, her body pivoting with immense quickness as she slammed a gloved fist directly into the unprotected side of her opponent. The wind was stolen from the considerably larger man, and as he retreated two steps gasping for breath Sunset assumed a stance, and steeled her eyes, all of her focus directly on her opponent. His white shirt was drenched in sweat, and one Bulk Biceps found himself gasping for air, and begging for mercy, three five minute rounds with a skinny framed red haired girl should be no problem, but Bulk knew better.

In a flash Sunset took a step towards the mass of muscle that was Bulk, who immediately responded with a front kick, aiming to stomp Sunset’s chest and buy him a few more moments. His efforts met a dubious end, as Sunset stepped directly to the left of his line of attack, and struck, her first jab hitting his guarding forearms “Right Step” Her right foot then planted down in time with the second strike, a cross which grazed the side of Bulk’s head “Pivot” on a dime Sunset pivoted her toes gliding into a 90 degree angle with the body of her opponent, and as her heels stomped into the mat she released a jab and cross, these two connecting directly with the off balance Bulk’s left temple, and knocking him back three steps.

Bulk was no pushover, his muscles weren't just show, and his athletic prowess only lacked cardiovascular intensity, but getting struck that many time while off balance is enough to nearly topple even the best fighters. Bulk turned, his guard still up, readying a counter-attack, and was greeted with three things in rapid succession. The first was nothing, his opponent gone; he stared at the row of students watching the match. The second was an immediate sharp pain in his left calf, which now had Sunset Shimmers calf plated directly against it. The third was the feeling of euphoria that only being swept directly off both feet and crash landing on the mat can bring.

Sunset’s prone body was stretched like a cat, her right leg having swept at the massive Bulk with deadly speed in a 360 degree arc, generating enough power to knock him clear off his already wavered balance. Sunset, however, was not finished, stepping to her right foot, and then hopping onto the large man, Sunset arced her elbow like a blade, aimed directly at the face of her prey, stopping just shy of making the match a blood bath. “I think, that’s, the fight, BB” Gasped Sunset through each precious burst of oxygen to her exhausted body.

“Hehehe, yep, ya got me again Sunny,” came the voice of the trembling man under her, and as they stood, Sunset assisting Bulk to his feet, the class cheered.

“Sunset that was one hell of a fight!” Cheered an excited Rainbow Dash from across the gym pumping her fists in mock punches, it had been the last sparring match of the evening, and the orange glow of the setting sun illuminated the gym in a lovely orange glow. Mats were set out, and just twenty minutes prior every student present had been practicing at varying levels of skill and intensity.

Canterlot University was fairly typical for Colleges, having several large gyms for students to exercise in, and as was typical many clubs had formed, and to that end there was the Canterlot U Iron Hooves, the University’s own mixed martial arts and fitness club, headed by professor Luna, who had recently started moonlighting in CU’s education department while completing her own graduate degree. Sunset always chuckled seeing her former vice-principle and personal training partner back when she had first sought reconciliation for her past transgressions. The older woman was many things, two of which were incredibly skilled with her fists, and very compassionate towards Sunset.

“Alright everyone, excellent work this evening, practice at the usual time next Monday,” Luna herself had just finished instructing the newer students on footwork and how to throw a punch without breaking one’s own thumb, a lesson Bulk had learned the hard way the year before. Sunset chuckled at the memory, and began to help the other students clean the mats and put away the gloves.

It had been one hell of a day thus far, but it was officially the weekend, and Sunset had the chance to go out and see if she could convince the Dazzlings to come around more often. For whatever reason Sunset had found herself drawn to the idea of trying to help people, especially since her own reformation, and even more since the actions of all of her friends saw her life improve immensely. Since the fall formal she had achieved much, graduating at the top of her class, and earning a free ride to Canterlot U, she had found Luna, and they had bonded over the fact that neither of them had great pasts through martial arts. Everything was looking up, and Sunset now felt the inescapable desire to pay it forward, and the Dazzlings definitely seemed like they needed a friend.

“Sunset, you have a pensive air about you this evening,” Came the overly formal tone of her teacher, yes it seemed at least to a degree some things stayed stable between the pony and human world. “Tell us, what is it that gives your eyes this far off look? Perhaps you finally took our advice and found yourself a worthy suitor?” Sunset shook her head and laughed. Luna was a wonderful teacher, and while her way of speaking was a bit odd, and her hobbies eclectic, Sunset loved her teacher; except that for whatever reason Luna had been badgering Sunset about trying to find a partner.

“No Luna I haven’t found a date yet, just thinking about some people I’m meeting up with this evening, Adagio Dazzle and her friends from the battle of the bands, remember?” had it been a year or two ago this may have been information Sunset would have withheld, however as was the case with her friends Sunset knew that Luna would have no qualms, at this point there was enough trust between them for it to not be a problem.

“Ah yes, they caused quite a fracas, we were surprised when they returned to CHS after such an embarrassment.” Luna casually flipped her long dark blue hair back and pondered on the three women. It had been problems in Luna’s own past that had drawn Sunset to her, and though Sunset and Luna didn’t fully disclose their pasts, it could be said that Luna had suspicions that not all was as it seemed with Sunset, and that was enough for her to worry a bit. “Sunset,” Luna said, her voice wavering to the softer tone she would often take when they were alone “I think you’re trying to help them, I know your feelings on the issue of paying it forward, but I worry about you, please do take care.” Luna placed a hand on Sunset’s shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze.

“Don’t worry Lu, you've made sure I can handle myself if something were to go down.” Sunset smiled at her teacher, and gave her a hug. Luna for her part looked shocked, and patted her student’s back

“Yes well… Ahem, We believe in you Sunset, just remember to call Us should you require our assistance.” Luna winked at her student, slipping back to her formal tone, and as the two parted ways for home Luna shook her head “Thank the gods sister is not here, she would no doubt make some ruckus about that hug.” Turning down the hall Luna could not have noticed a particularly nefarious figure holding a cell phone, and chuckling gently

“Oh my Tia is certain to get a kick out of this,” The figure whispered as he inserted the picture he had just taken with the title “Cradle robbing Lulu,” and sent the picture directly to the principle’s phone “Yes this will surely make dinner more entertaining this evening.” He smiled wider, and finding himself alone in the corridor moved to exit the school and tail Luna to her home
.

. “What might the Dean of students be doing watching us hmmm Discord?” came the soft, intensely dangerous voice of Luna from behind the figure. Standing over someone when shorter than them is a feat, and yet Luna managed, seeming to tower of Discord, her large arms flexed still in her workout gear, and hair pulled back again as though she were about to fight. This obviously had an effect on the ever shrinking figure of Discord, he abhorred violence, especially when it was the brand that Luna visited upon him when he pulled a funny little trick, and with a smirk he said simply

“Oh my look a distraction!” with feigned shock pointing toward the other end of the fitness center, and seizing the fraction of a second Luna looked away to run as fast as he could, Luna chasing after him the whole way holding a rather dangerous looking piece of exercise equipment, and enough malice to terrify the student workers on duty. “Some people simply cannot take a joke” he chuckled, glad he had remembered to wear his yellow running shoes with his orange and purple suit, they made him faster.

Author's Notes:

First chapter, first fic, first lots of stuff! So hopefully everyone got the memo from the tags a description, this is a rom-com centered around Sunset and the Dazzlings, the Mane 6 will play roles, but they have their own stories for later. Same with the household of Princesses Principles, and Discord. If this goes over well I'll write their stories.