Although there were many places on the grounds of Canterlot High that could rightfully be said to have special meaning for the Rainbooms, by far the most important was the music room. This place, which serves as their unofficial headquarters within the school, was not only the place where they practised their music and singing, but also a place where they generally came to spend time with one another. On any other day, being here would bring the pleasant feelings of being surrounded by one’s friends. But today was not like any other day. Instead, both the Rainbooms and the Dazzlings sat in various places around the room, looking a combination of nervous, uncomfortable and, to some extent, excited at the same time. However, that excitement was felt mostly by Pinkie, who, as usual, just felt excited about everything. As for everyone else, today was something they’d been both looking forward to and dreading in equal measure.

On one side of the room was the Rainbooms; Sunset, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity. And on the other side were the Siren sisters themselves, the Dazzlings; Adagio, Aria and Sonata. All three of the Equestrian exiles sat together, with Sonata especially seeming almost afraid of what was going to be happening. For today was the day that the Rainbooms would once more see their final member; Princess Twilight Sparkle. She had sent word some time ago about her arrival here, and now it was simply a matter of waiting, which, for the Sirens, proved rather discomforting, with Aria in particular taping her foot in frustration as the nearby clock on the wall did its usual “tick-tock” sounds. However, after a long and awkward silence between them all, it happened, as the door of the music room opened, leading to the Rainbooms looking to it with smiles.

“Twilight!” they all called out.

Sure enough, there she was, Twilight herself, wearing a backpack, entering the room with some trepidation, though broke out into an affectionate smile as she saw her human friends. Giving them a small wave, she opened her mouth to speak, only to be stopped as Pinkie rushed forward, holding her tightly in a hug. Although taken aback by this, Twilight soon composed herself, resuming her smile and returning the embrace, which soon led to each of the other girls walking over and joining in. In the end, there was a massive group hug, which the Dazzlings looked at with varying reactions, from Sonata’s cheeriness to Aria’s dismissiveness. In the end, as the girls finally let go of Twilight, the young princess brushed herself off before finally speaking up to them.

“It’s good to see you too, girls. I’m sorry it’s been such a long time, but…”

But she was prevented from continuing as Sunset raised a hand, stopping her.

“There’s no need to apologise, Twilight. We know you’ve got a lot on your plate back home. It’s just good to see you at all.”

Twilight looked to her former rival, smiling sweetly at her.

“Thanks.”

However, her expression became a more dour one as she let out a sigh.

“I just wish…I wish my visit wasn’t for…official reasons.”

And with those words, all of the smiles vanished from her friends, even Pinkie, as they slowly turned around, looking upon the three Sirens, who had each been sitting quietly during all of this. Now looking up, Twilight gazed upon her three ex-enemies for the first time today, taking a few steps towards them. Seeing this, Adagio got up from her chair, followed shortly afterwards by her two sisters. The three walked closer to Twilight, stopping a few short steps from her, with Adagio placing a hand on her hip as she looked the young princess over.

“Princess Twilight. It’s…been a while.”

Twilight nodded.

“Yeah…it has.”

The silence between them was incredibly uncomfortable at this point, and Aria and Sonata looked to each other behind Adagio. Shortly afterwards, the Siren leader let out a sigh of her own before speaking.

“Well…as much as I enjoy this unnatural quiet, I believe you had business to attend to with us?”

Although Twilight paused for a time, she eventually nodded. But, before anyone could say anything, Sonata rushed forward, dropping to her knees and grabbing onto Twilight’s skirt. Although shocked by this behaviour, Twilight looked down as the blue girl looked up at her with near-tears in her eyes.

“Oh, please don’t punish us, princess! We’ve all been trying really hard to fit in and…and…and…we’re really sorry for everything we did and…!”

But, Sonata was interrupted, as Aria stepped forward, grabbed onto both of her arms, and hoisted her up to her feet.

“Sonata! For the love of…have some dignity, will you!”

Turning to her youngest sister, Adagio folded her arms and nodded.

“Indeed, sister. We may be facing our end here today, but that’s no excuse to meet it with anything less than composure!”

But Twilight, glancing at all three of them, took on a look of pure confusion.

“Facing your…what are you talking about?”

At that, all of the other girls, Dazzlings and Rainbooms together, stopped, and looked to each other. It was clear from looking that all of them were taken aback by Twilight’s comment, as if she had no idea what was going through their heads right now. Adagio, never taking her eyes off the young royal, raised an eyebrow.

“Why…isn’t it obvious, my dear? After everything my siblings and I have done…you’re here to…end us, aren’t you?”

But, after hearing that, Twilight’s eyes widened with shock, and she shook her head frantically.

“Wha…NO!!! I’m not here for that!”

The three Sirens glanced at one another, before Adagio then took a step forward, frowning slightly as she did so.

“In that case…what are you here for?”

Twilight paused again, and looked over her shoulder, seeing the looks on each of her friends. It was obvious that they were just as curious about all of this as the Dazzlings were, and so it wasn’t long before Twilight let out a sigh. Taking her backpack off, she placed it upon the ground, opened it up and then began to rummage around inside it. All of the others looked on with curiosity, only to then regain looks of confusion as she took out what appeared to be a scroll of some sort. Standing up, she held it carefully in her hand and kept her eyes upon it as she resumed speaking.

“After reading all of the reports that Sunset sent me about you…I got to thinking. I am a princess of friendship, and that means that I believe that anyone, and I mean anyone, can be friends. Given all the good things I heard you’d been doing…I started talking to Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and my sister-in-law, Cadence. All four of us got together and…well…”

Slowly, the princess stretched out her hand, offering the scroll to Adagio. Although hesitant, curiosity eventually won out, and the eldest Siren took the scroll from her, unrolling it before starting to read its contents. Aria and Sonata looked over her shoulder to get a better look, and all of the other girls stood closer to Twilight, looking from her to the Sirens and then back again. After a while, and for reasons the Rainbooms couldn’t understand, the Sirens gained looks of utter shock. They looked to each other, hoping that one of them would have something to say. But, in the end, it was Adagio who finally spoke, albeit in a hushed tone.

“Is this…is this a joke?”

But Twilight shook her head.

“It isn’t. Every word is true.”

Seeing the disbelieving look on Adagio’s face, Sunset took a step closer before speaking.

“What…what does it say?”

Adagio looked to her for a moment before, hesitantly, starting to read the scroll out loud.

“It is the official decree of the four princesses of Equestria, that the Siren sisters, Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk…are hereby…hereby pardoned of their crimes against the peoples of Equestria. With immediate effect, they are to return to Equestria…if that is their desire.”

Silence fell upon the room, and the Rainbooms stood there with their mouths hanging open, utterly dumbfounded as to what they’d just heard. In the end, all of them looked to Twilight, and soon enough, it was Sonata who spoke next, almost whispering her words.

“We…we can go home?”

Twilight put on a small smile as she nodded.

“If you really have become better people, as Sunset tells me you have…then yes.”

For a moment, she looked away, a look of regret crossing her face.

“Being unable to make you into friends of others…it was something Starswirl always considered his greatest failure. He said as much in his ancient journals. He’d always hoped that, one day…you could return…having accepted friendship into your hearts.”

Slowly, she looked back to them.

“If that really is who you are now, and I truly hope it is…then your exile has come to an end.”

To say that the Sirens looked shocked at this would have been a great understatement, as Adagio let her arm drop for a moment, the parchment falling from her grip and onto the floor. The other two looked to each other, sharing looks of confusion, concern, perhaps even a little joy, though the latter seemed very much muted.

“Home,” Aria muttered.

“Equestria,” Sonata added.

“After all this time…it’s over?” Adagio finished.

The Rainbooms kept their eyes on them, and many in their number had smiles upon their faces, all silently happy for the ones they had managed to become friends with over the last few months. However, to their confusion, they found that happiness was not the expression that the Dazzlings themselves wore. They were, if anything, conflicted in their expressions. Slowly, the three girls turned to each other, and silently looked into each other’s eyes. Although none of the other girls could hear any words, they knew that, between the sisters, a great deal was probably being said with just a few looks. After some time had passed, the three Sirens turned to Twilight, and after clearing her throat, Adagio finally spoke.

“Princess…Twilight…on behalf of my sisters and I…we just want to say…thank you. This is…this is something we’ve wanted for…a very long time now.”

At long last, Twilight broke into a smile.

“You’re…you’re welcome. I’m happy I could do this for you.”

Immediately afterwards, Twilight took on a look of curiosity.

“I’m wondering…what are you three going to do when you get back home?”

However, to Twilight’s confusion, she saw the girls look to each other, exchanging unsure glances, before Adagio started speaking up again.

“Yes…about that…”

Tilting her head a little, Twilight looked to her former rivals with uncertainty, as indeed did the other Rainbooms. Each of them had been expecting the three girls to be leaping for joy over what they’d been told here. To see them like this, so unsure, was actually quite a shock. But, after a long silence, Sonata began to speak.

“Well…um…I would love to go home…I mean…it’d be the best thing that’s happened to us in, like, forever.”

Afterwards, she held onto her arm a little, seeming somewhat demure on her overall look.

“But…you know…I’ve still gotta whole lot of stuff here to do. There’s my singing practise with Fluttershy, Rarity’s still helping me to learn sewing and stuff, Applejack and Pinkie still need to teach me how to bake, I've still got some essays that Sunset is helping me with, and…well…I’ve kinda agreed to help the swim team out in this contest next week so…”

She looked away, as if unable to look Twilight in the eyes. As for the latter, her confusion grew, but it wasn’t long before she turned to Aria, who spoke next, folding her arms as she did so.

“Yeah…I still hate this place…but…I did kinda promise to keep working for this old lady. It’s just, ya know…this debt I’ve gotta work off and stuff…not that I like it or anything!”

Looking to her two sisters, Adagio let out a sigh before rolling her eyes and adding her own voice to the mix.

“Well, if you must know…I suppose…I’ve grown rather…accustomed to this world. I mean, I obviously hold us Sirens as better, naturally. But…”

In the silence that followed, Adagio looked to each of the Rainbooms in turn, from Rarity, to Rainbow, then Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and then finally Sunset, before looking to Twilight and putting on her infamous smirk.

“…but…I suppose some humans have, shall we say…endeared themselves to me.”

Twilight turned, looking to her friends, all of whom were smiling at what the Dazzlings had each said. At the end of it, the young princess turned to Sunset, who gave her both a smile and a nod. Looking back to the Sirens, Twilight paused for a few moments, after which she broke out into a small smile of her own.

“Well…I appreciate that you may not want to go back just yet. But…”

Taking a step closer, Twilight raised a hand and offered it to Adagio.

“…if ever you want to come back, even if it’s just for a visit…our door is always open.”

Adagio looked to the hand, and there was some hesitation in her eyes. However, after a few seconds of silence, she cracked a smile, reaching forward and shaking the hand back. After smiling at each other over this, the two girls parted, and soon afterwards, both groups came together, resulting in an uproar of chatter as everyone began talking to everyone else. Looking at it all, Adagio felt the tension of the past wait begin to lift, and it wasn’t long before she spotted Sunset approaching her from amidst the crowd. When she finally reached the Siren, standing beside Twilight as she did so, the fellow exile folded her arms and put on a smirk of her own.

“I appreciate what you all said, Adagio. In the past, when we first met, I never would have ever thought to say this, but…I’m glad you’re staying.”

Adagio nodded at that, and soon, Sunset let out a chuckle, catching Twilight’s attention.

“I’ve gotta admit, I’m actually surprised you three are as adamant as you are about staying.”

Turning to Face Adagio herself, Twilight nodded at that.

“Me too.”

Adagio considered that for a moment, turning to look upon not only her own sisters, but all of the other girls of the Rainbooms, seeing them all talk to each other in such casual ways. Looking back to Twilight, she raised an eyebrow.

“Well…you shouldn’t be too surprised, princess. After all…”

Slowly, the eldest Sirens sister turned to look at Sunset, and, for the first time since starting to spend time with them, put on a look of genuine affection.

“…we are all friends here, aren’t we?”

Author's Notes:

Well guys, here it is, the final chapter. I've had a great time writing it all and I hope you all had a wonderful time reading it :)