Author's Notes:

Authors Warning: This is where the story gets freaky, viewer discretion is advised.

Inside them.

Inside them.

Inside them.

The words circled her head for hours to come.

Their resurrection was possible. And possible was all she needed.

It didn’t take long for her to develop ideas, but none of them would be easy. They were difficult not only physically, but morally speaking, as well.

She had tried on herself first. It had proven difficult, and very, very painful. The pain had become so harsh in fact, that was what made her realize she wouldn't get anywhere trying it on herself. She simply couldn’t get anything done while experiencing the pain herself; it was too distracting for her to think properly.

She knew what had to be done. There was no hesitation about it. She had a chance at getting her sisters and their power back, so she would take it, no matter the cost.

Wrapping her arm up tightly in a bandage, Adagio began to make plans.

She was not physically stronger than either of her sisters ghosts. The Not-Sonata, maybe, but in her malnourished state she doubted she could over-power her. She would need to be clever, and luckily Adagio's strength was not only as a strategist, but as a damn good one.

She waited for both of them to leave the apartment. At this time, the Not-Sonata would be in school, a confusing habit the ghoul had retained. She wasn’t sure why the Not-Aria had left, but it had provided her with the perfect opportunity.

After dragging down the makeshift barricade down from behind her door, Adagio ventured out into the apartment. It was surprisingly clean, for the most part. It was clean, but it was empty. Very empty. This was the apartment she had shared with her sisters. Being in here without them was just… just…

Adagio swallowed, shaking her head.

She had this. She knew what she was doing.

Quickly and quietly, she made her way down to the broom cupboard and pulled out a cricket bat. It was the bat they primarily kept in case of intruders, but also for playing occasionally when they had vacationed, making it quite appropriate that it would be a tool in her sisters resurrection.

Speaking of which…

The Not-Aria was strong, there was no chance she would be able to touch the Not-Sonata while it was around. Which meant it would have to be the target.

Adagio lay in wait. Minutes passed. Hours? She couldn't tell. She stood glued in her hiding place, waiting like an ambush predator.

Finally the key in the door clicked, and it was showtime.

“I’M SORRY ABOUT THIS I PROMISE.”

Adagio swung the bat with all her might. Before it had any time to react, the Not-Aria was knocked from its feet and sent flailing back into the corridor outside their house. As it hit the floor Adagio leaped over it, ready to strike again.

It didn’t get up.

For a brief second, Adagio experienced a moment of panic. She was expecting a fight, or a yell, anything. She dove to the ground, and quickly found reassurance with the confirmation of a pulse.

Tossing the bat away from them, Adagio scooped up the Not-Aria by it’s shoulders and dragged it back into the house.

“Aria, baby, I need your help," she whispered into it's ear. “You probably can’t understand me… or what I’m about to do, but I promise it’s for the best.”

Adagio kicked open the door to her bedroom.

She already had her equipment set up, all made from makeshift utensils and a pair of handcuffs attached to her bed. Dragging the unconscious Not-Aria, she hoisted its upper half onto her bed and then with a heave, pulled at it's belt until the whole thing was lifted it fully into place. As she locked the handcuffs in place, the Not-Aria began to stir.

Adagio couldn’t make out anything beyond static noise, but was sure it was trying to talk.

“Hey, hey...” Adagio said in her best soothing voice, sitting beside it on the bed.

“Listen, Aria… I know you don’t know what’s going on, but it’s going to be okay.”

The harder she looked at the Not-Aria, the more she began to notice. Like a camera coming in and out of focus, small details began to make themselves known to her. It had pink skin and purple hair, just like the real Aria once had.

That, if anything, was the final convincing Adagio needed.

She soothed the Not-Aria, stroking her hair.

“I’m gonna bring you back. It’s not gonna be easy but… I know what I have to do. This is all gonna be worth it in the end, I promise.”

To say this was difficult would be an understatement.

The Not-Aria had fought against her none-stop, further cementing her theory it was not self aware, otherwise it would have understood she was trying to help it. It had gotten so bad Adagio ended up having to force a gag into its mouth, as the sounds it had been producing were starting to make her skin crawl.

What was far more annoying, however, was that she didn’t seem to be making any process. Just where exactly was magic even stored in the body? In unicorns it was fairly obviously the brain, since the horn was on the head, but sirens? She had no clue, and frankly… she was beginning to make a mess.

Stepping back from her work, she dropped her tools and groaned.

Her hard work had caused her to bleed through her bandage. How long ago had she applied it? It looked to be getting dark out, but so far as Adagio could figure out it was winter, which meant she probably still had a few hours befo-

A sudden shriek from behind her.

Okay. Maybe she didn’t have as good a grasp of the time as she thought she had.

Adagio spun around, just in time to see the Not-Sonata running from her room.

Never mind the time, she should have remembered to lock her door! Celestia, what was wrong with her!?

No wonder she had been beaten by teenagers.

“Sonata! Come back here!”

This was what she had wanted to avoid. So far as she could tell, the Not-Aria and Not-Sonata followed the basic behavior of her sisters. And Sonata was emotional, timid and quick to overreact. She hoped to explain the situation to her in a way she knew wouldn’t have been able to do with the aggressive Not-Aria, but now that idea had gone down the drain.

Entering out into the hallway, Adagio tried to locate the bat she had used earlier on the Not-Aria, only to find it had gone.

Fantastic.

“Sonata, listen to me. You don’t understand what's going on... I’m trying to help you.”

Her words echoed in the apartment. No response came. In fact, if she hadn’t had heard and seen the Not-Sonata, she would almost have sworn she was home alone.

Adagio slowly crept over to the front door, shifting the lock into place.

“Sonata, come out. Please, I’m really tired and we don’t have to do this.”

A slight shuffling came from somewhere in the apartment.

The living room? Her bedroom?

It could have come from either.

Deciding the noise wasn’t the Not-Aria beginning to stir, she made her way into the living room and called out again.

“Sonat-”

WHACK!

"GAH!"

The wooden bat collided with her face. A burning sensation filled her body as her already-damaged nose was further broken by the impact. Adagio dropped to the floor, cursing profusely to herself.

“You little shit!” she unsuccessfully made to grab the Not-Sonata’s ankles as it ran past.

Groaning, Adagio pulled herself up. Wiping the blood from her mouth and face, she dragged herself off the floor by the door handle. Switching onto her two feet, she called out yet again, noticeably less reassuring than before.

“Sonata, honey…”

Supporting herself on the wall, Adagio switched rooms and limped into the kitchen.

Target sighted.

She crossed the room and pulled a large kitchen knife out from its stand on the counter.

“If you do that again…” she seethed, “then I’m going to kill you. Now stop playing games.”

Holding the knife out in front of her, Adagio waddled back into the hallway. She could immediately hear a noise going from her left. Using a hand to support herself on the wall, she made her way to Sonata’s old room.

She threw the door open, knife at the ready.

“Sonata!”

The room was empty. Action figures, band posters and a messy-unmade bed, but no Not-Sonata..

But, she had heard a noise coming from in here. Which meant…

“Hiding? Seriously?” she rolled her eyes.

She wished she could communicate with them. She doubted that to the ghouls her words sounded like anything other than that same static fuzz she heard when they tried to communicate with her. That, and the fact they might not even have the mental understanding to comprehend human speech.

Talking to them was more for her own benefit. If she could pretend that by talking to them, maybe somewhere in the back of their heads her sisters were still alive and hearing her, then it gave her an end goal. Even if she couldn’t make contact, reassuring them she was coming for them offered herself a little reassurance as well.

“You’re not making this any easier for me, you know!” she told the empty room.

They actually used to play like this, what felt like forever ago. It probably was a forever ago, thinking about it. Back in Equestria, back in their true forms, they’d play hide and seek in the shallow water. Sonata’s body was small, which made her great at hiding in rock pools. She could fit into places she and Aria could not, which had come in quite handy during their shoplifting days in this world.

Fortunately, playing those games as a child had made Adagio as good at finding her as Sonata was at hiding.

“Sonata, I know you’re…” Adagio dropped to her knees, “...under the bed!”

Nobody was under the bed.

“That’s vaguely embarrassing.”

Then suddenly, a new noise. Adagio pressed her head against the carpet. Metal, clicking? Rattling?

“Oh you little shit!”

Adagio leapt from the floor and dove back into the hallway.

The Not-Sonata was stretched over the Not-Aria, tugging at the handcuffs that held her. She didn’t know how it had given her the slip, but then again… Adagio was well aware she probably wasn’t in her best mindset right now.

The Not-Sonata leaped back from the bed, and pointed out the cricket bat in front of Adagio.

“Put it down,” Adagio held her knife out at equal distance. “You have nowhere to go and nobody is coming for you. I’m trying to help you, let me.”

Kicking her back leg out, Adagio closed the door behind herself.