Sunset picked at her lunch the next day. She hadn’t told any of her friends about her run-in with the Sirens the night before, fearing they may not have the strong feelings she herself did. Honestly, her own feelings about the ordeal were confusing. She had been willing to hurt people plenty of times before, but… ever since she had begun hanging out with th Rainbooms, the thought of killing, or even hurting, someone made her nauseous.

Not only that, but none of them had been meaning to kill the Sirens, she didn't think. Yeah, they all wanted to stop the trio from taking over the world, but did that really mean murdering three women that could have found a second chance like she herself did? Sunset shuddered at the memory of how the Dazzlings had looked the night before. Even when she was trying to do good, she was still making someone's life miserable. She just couldn't win with the universe. With a soft exhale., Sunset went back to poking her lunch sadly.

“What’s wrong, Sunset?” Fluttershy asked softly, noting the fiery-haired woman’s melancholy. At the statement, the others turned to their friend expectantly.

With all of them looking at her, Sunset knew there was no way she was getting out of this one. She sighed and finally pushed her tray away. “Well, last night… I saw the Sirens. I actually kinda just came across them, but they looked so… weak a-and sick. When I asked them about it, Adagio told me…” Sunset paused, biting her lip. She couldn’t bring herself to utter the words, to tell them what they had all done.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to. “She told you that their pendants weren’t just for giving them super amazing voices, but also were the only way they had to feed on emotions and without them, the Sirens were doomed to starve to death.” Pinkie stated calmly, her cheerful voice eerily contrasting the words she was saying.

The group’s jaws dropped and all eyes found Sunset, who nodded sadly. Rarity’s hands flew to her mouth in horror as Applejack removed her hat forlornly. Fluttershy sank further into her seat at the knowledge that they had condemned three poor girls to a painful death while Rainbow slammed her hands on the table, one of her fists clenched and shaking. Pinkie chomped a cookie and said, “Don’t worry. They discovered a new way to feed last night and are coming back to school today. They needed to rest for a while so their bodies could get healthy again.”

Everyone breathed sighs of relief and Sunset asked, “How do you know this, Pinkie?”

“I bumped into them this morning while they were taking a walk around the park,” the pinkette chirped. “They wanted to be sure this new way of feeding wasn’t temporary and they weren’t going to drop dead out of nowhere.”

Just then, the cafeteria doors opened and the Sirens strode in, glamorous as always. The students glared at them and ignored their entrance, but unlike with Sunset Shimmer, none of the trio seemed to care, almost seeming to take pleasure in the animosity. This only served to aggravate the student body, but the six people near the back of the room were far too relieved to care about their peers’ irritation.

Sunset Shimmer stood and trotted over to the three women, grinning at them happily. “You’re okay!” she gushed. Without thinking, she pulled Adagio into a hug. The yellow siren’s eyes shot wide at the contact and Aria and Sonata stared in surprise. No one touched Adagio, they barely touched Adagio. As Sunset pulled back, Adagio felt the areas the other woman had made contact, wonder coloring her expression at the warmth it evoked. Only her sisters made her feel that way…

“I was so worried and sad last night,” Sunset murmured, rubbing her arm nervously. “I didn’t know how to help and I felt so bad leaving you there like that. I should have stayed-.”

“We’re glad you didn’t,” Adagio cut in smoothly, Sonata and Aria moving up to flank her. “We’re not very good with thank yous. The gem you gave me is exquisite, Sunset Shimmer.”

“I-it’s not,” the orange woman said softly. “It’s not even the same color as your old one.”

Adagio laughed softly and purred, “Which only makes it that much more special. Thank you.”

Sunset nodded with a wide smile. “So, you’re going to be okay?” she asked hopefully.

“We can pick up the energy in the air now,” Aria told her as she glared at some students nearby. “So, the pendants just suck up whatever is there. Though, I don’t remember something this… sweet in the air before.”

“We’re picking up on more than just hatred and anger,” Adagio explained lowly to the puzzled Sunset Shimmer. “We have to learn to differentiate the tastes in the emotion to understand what will be healthiest for us.”

Sunset nodded in comprehension and gestured to where her friends were waiting. “I know it's a lot to ask considering the history already between us, but would you like to join us for lunch?”

Aria and Adagio shook their heads as Sonata nodded enthusiastically. “We’ve got a few things to attend to,” the fiery siren stated. “We just wanted to come relieve you of your worry.” Placing a finger under the slightly shorter woman’s chin, she cooed, “We’ll see you soon, dear.” With that, the trio sauntered back out of the cafeteria, winking and waving to those they passed.

Once they arrived outside of the cafeteria, Aria crossed her arms at her big sister. "Alright, so what's the plan?"

Adagio shrugged slightly. "I'm not certain yet, to be honest. However, returning to this school allows us to keep an eye on her. An odd phenomenon has occurred with our pendants, and I want to find out as much as I possibly can."

"This is going to be fun!" Sonata beamed at her sisters excitedly. "I mean, yeah, we gotta go to stupid classes and all, but we still get to watch sports and maybe we can go to prom-."

"Prom is for seniors and juniors, dummy," Aria grunted. "We enrolled as sophomores."

The blunette blinked. "Well... I'm sure there will be other things to happen! We always find some way to have fun!" She pulled the other two Sirens into a quick hug. "And besides, in the meantime, we can have some fun with the humans, right, Dagi?"

Adagio chuckled as she patted Sonata's head. Her sister's child-like enthusiasm was always a pleasure. Turning to continue down the hall, Adagio's signature smirk slid easily into place. "Yes, Sonata," she responded calmly. "While we gather info, you can have all the fun you want with the humans."

There was a squeal of happiness behind her as her sisters rushed to catch up. Adagio cast a last glance to the cafeteria, her fingers rubbing idly at the violet jewel adorning her choker. Perhaps, going to this school wouldn't be as boring as she had initially thought.

Back in the cafeteria, Sunset fought the blush creeping up her cheeks at the warmth spreading through her from where Adagio had touched her. It was similar to the heat that had spiked through her briefly when Sonata and Adagio had bumped her in the darkened hallway during the Battle of the Bands. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, the orange woman went back to her table as the students around whispered about the Sirens’ return.

“How are they?” Rarity asked once Sunset took her seat. “Are they still…?”

Sunset shook her head with a small grin. “They said that they can feed again. They can also feed on more emotions than just hatred and anger now.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Applejack huffed, using her hat to fan herself. “I was real worried there. I wanted to stop’em, but I didn’t sign up for killin’.”

“Agreed,” Rarity nodded. “Especially considering they still have the potential to change. They seem quite fond of you, Sunset.”

“Huh?” The redhead raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged as she explained, “The second we stood up to follow you over to them, the grumpy one glared at us real hard and told us to stay seated.”

“I didn’t see that,” Sunset murmured.

“It was while you were huggin’ the leader,” Applejack told her. “Speakin’ of, I didn’t know you were that close to’em.”

Sunset gave a quick shake of the head. “No, I’m not. I was just so relieved that we hadn’t killed them that I didn’t think before acting.” She blushed slightly at the memory of her arms wrapping around Adagio’s waist. Sunset ignored how nice it had felt and instead focused on what Rainbow Dash had said.

“I guess they have to warm up to us a little at a time. I think all of us going over to check on them would have made them really uncomfortable anyway.” Her friends nodded and went back to their lunch.

Sunset really was happy that the Sirens were alright. She didn’t want them to go without a chance to become better people, the same chance she had received. Remembering back to those months before the Battle of the Bands, Sunset turned her attention to her arms and rubbed them gently to ebb some of her anxiety at the memory of the isolation and bullying she had endured. Perhaps not the same chance she received.

Thankfully, the hostility of the student body didn’t appear to have that big of an impact on the Sirens. With any luck, they’ll be able to set on the path to being good with less bumps than she endured. The most any of them could do for the moment was keep an eye on them. CHS would be more interesting with the trio around, that was for sure.

Author's Notes:

And there's the end of the first one! Hope you enjoyed that. I'll try to have the next first chapter of the next installment posted before the end of the week. Now allow me to run from the masses coming after me for not working on my other two fics.