She was done. Just….done.

After the Battle of the Bands, Sunset had thought – she had hoped - that the students of Canterlot High would finally see she had changed. That she could finally move on from that disastrous night of the Fall Formal.

And then, Anon-a-Miss showed up.

That in itself was bad enough, but then her friends had unanimously decided that she was the one posting their secrets, without even giving her a chance to defend herself, and left her right back where she started: friendless, hated, and alone.

Today was the final straw. The entire student body had ganged up on her, accusing her and assaulting her with their cruel words. Before she ran out of the school, tears streaming down her face, she saw a message in her journal from Twilight, something about finding her true family.

Sunset shook her head, staring down into the lake as she leaned on the railing. Whoever her family was, it was obviously not here.

After running out and having a very emotional breakdown near the Canterlot High statue where the portal to Equestria was, which ultimately ended in her phone being smashed and stomped into ruin, she had wondered all over town, and ultimately ended up in a park, which oversaw a huge lake. Judging by the position of the sun, she guessed she’d been there a few hours.

She had thought about writing to Twilight and telling her about what happened today, but decided against it. Knowing Twilight, she would feel obligated to come here and try to fix things, and Sunset didn’t want that. Twilight was a Princess with her own duties back in Equestria; she couldn’t always be around to fix everything. And this was a situation, Sunset believed, that simply could not be fixed.

Sunset closed her eyes and sighed as she wondered where to go from here.

“Thinking about jumping?”

Startled from here thoughts, she turned towards the speaker and saw one the last few people she expected to see, and honestly, didn’t think she would ever see again.

One of the Dazzlings was standing three feet away from her, wearing a black jogging suit and eating a burrito.

“I mean, I’m not assuming or anything. It’s just that you’ve been looking at the lake pretty intently for like, ten minutes, and you look kinda depressed.”

Sunset just stood there and blinked, trying to figure out the siren’s name. Sonata, was it? Yeah, that’s right. Sonata. The one with the ponytail.

“Nah, you’re right. That’s a dumb way to go. Personally, I’d go with a gun or a knife. Not that I’m suicidal, I’m just saying, you know, get it over with. Something quick and easy.”

Realizing quickly that her “guest” was not going to go away anytime soon, and not really in the mood for a confrontation, Sunset decided to make herself comfortable on one the benches near the railing. As she predicted, Sonata followed her and sat down next to her.

“Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. I can see it on your face. You’re all ‘Oh my gosh! It’s one of the sirens! Call the police! Ahhhh!’” Sonata waved her hands around in mock horror. “But yeah, you don’t need to worry about us trying to take over the school again or wreaking our horrible vengeance on you and the Rainbooms or anything like that. See, when you destroyed our amulets,” she gestured to a spot on her chest, “you basically took away our magic. Which means we can’t sing our song and make everyone grumpy and mad so we can absorb their negative energy. Now if we want food,” she held up her arm to reveal a plastic bag with a Taco Barn icon hanging from the crook in her arm, “we have to get it the way everyone else in this world does.”

Sunset marveled at the fact that Sonata had not taken a single breath during her rambling. She could give Pinkie Pie a run for her money.

“Personally, I have no problem with it. I mean the food here,” Sonata waved her burrito, “is to die for. Well, Aria and Adagio don’t really like it that much, but you know what? It’s my turn to get food, and if they don’t like it, they can just starve.”

Sonata pointedly took a bite out of her burrito and chewed it with purpose.

“Okay, exposition over. So, um, aren’t you supposed to be in school right now?”

Sunset, who was content with just letting Sonata rant until she got bored and left, was startled by the sudden question.

“I mean I’m not judging. Your school is pretty dull, no offense. Except for the tacos. But anyway, isn’t there like a law here that says all teenagers have to go to school? Then again you’re not really a teenager, are you?”

Whether Sonata was actually expecting an answer or not, Sunset didn’t know, because she continued speaking, “It is pretty late. School probably let out hours ago. But now that I think about it, where are your friends? You know, the Rainbooms? Aren’t you supposed to be hanging out with them?”

As she said this, Sonata stretched her neck and started looking over Sunset’s shoulders, as if expecting them to be hiding directly behind her. She stopped when she saw the look on Sunset’s face.

“Ohhhhh, I get it.” she said, nodding in understanding. “They ditched you, huh? They used you to get rid of us, and then they threw you away like garbage.”

Sunset said nothing. Her head was bowed, her vibrant red and yellow locks falling over her eyes.

Sonata’s eyebrows furrowed and she crossed her arms. “Have to admit, that was kind of a crappy thing to do. I mean, you’d think you’d at least get a ‘thank you’ or something.”

She sighed and shrugged her shoulders, “Then again, I can’t say I’m surprised. We’ve been in this world for a while, and I gotta tell you, humans can be real bastards when they want to be. I mean when we first got here, we didn’t even have to use our magic if you know what I mean. And then the stuff we read in the library? All those wars and stuff!” She shook her head. “Geez! And everyone thinks we’re evil.” She paused, pursing her lips. “Now that I think about it, we really didn’t have to use our magic on the Rainbooms either. They just started arguing and we just sucked up their magic!”

Sunset said nothing. Sonata leaned back and started munching on her burrito again.

“But yeah, I feel ya, girl.” Sonata said, mouth full of burrito. “I know what it’s like to not get any respect. I mean don’t get me wrong, Dagi and Ari are my sisters, I love ‘em to death, but geez they’re annoying. And Dagi’s the worst of the two; from the moment we got here it was all ‘Revenge this’ and ‘World domination’ that, and for a while I was okay with it, but at times I was like ‘Geez! Shut up already!’”

Sometime during her rant, Sunset noticed that Sonata’s arm had snaked its way across her shoulders and that her body was waaaay too close to hers. Under normal circumstances Sunset would not take such an invasion of her personal space so lightly, and the invader of said space would find themselves sprawled on the ground with numerous bruises and lacerations. However, the past few days had left her so emotionally and even physically drained that she simply didn’t have the will or the strength to do so. Instead she picked up Sonata’s wrist with her thumb and index finger, as if she were picking up a dirty sock, slowly unwound the arm from around her shoulders and dropped the wrist unceremoniously into Sonata’s lap, then scooted as far as she possibly could from the siren to the end of the bench. Sonata continued as if she didn’t notice.

“But of course if I say anything or suggest we do anything they give me this look like they think I’m brain damaged or something. You know I’m part of the group, too! I’m not stupid! Just because I’m the youngest doesn’t mean I -”

A loud buzzing interrupted her thought. Sonata groaned loudly and pulled out a cellphone. She flipped it open and pressed a button, obviously knowing who was on the other end.

“Yeah?” she asked irritably. Sunset couldn’t understand the voice on the other end but they obviously sounded angry.

“Alright, alright. Keep your shirt on, I’m on my way back!” She snapped the phone shut and crammed it back into her pocket.

Standing up, she rolled her eyes and said, “Sisters!” As she started to walk away she stopped suddenly, turning back to Sunset.

“You know, it was nice to have someone actually listen to me for a change. You know, not counting the whole ‘brainwashing’ thing.” She paused then said, “You think maybe we could, I don’t know, hang out sometime? I mean Ari and Dagi won’t approve, but it’s not like they can do anything about it. I don’t think.” Her eyebrows furrowed, an unsure look flashing across her face. It vanished a second later.

“But anyway, it’s been fun! See ya!”

With that she smiled and gave a little wave, and then began jogging away. Sunset watched until she disappeared completely. Sunset noticed there was something on the bench where Sonata had been sitting moments before. Picking it up and unwrapping it she saw it was a taco. Looking at the wrapper she saw seven digits written on the outside.

As the sun began to set beyond the horizon, Sunset took a moment of consideration, and then decided ‘what the heck?’ and took a bite. She’d deal with the whole Anon-a- Miss thing later. Right now she needed to figure out where she was going to sleep tonight.

Author's Notes:

No. This is NOT a shipping fic.

You may interpret Sonata's actions in this chapter as you wish. I am neither confirming or denying the sexuality of any of the characters.