“Hey, ‘Dagi, your phone is doing the ding thing!”

Adagio Dazzle stared blankly at the far wall of the living room as she contemplated how much she really loved her little sister who was shouting at her from the upstairs office.

“Daaaaaagi~!”

“A moment of peace and quiet on my day off to finish my tea is all I ask,” Adagio muttered quietly, taking a sip of her warm oolong. “Is that really so hard?”

“Daaaaaaaaaaaagi~!”

“Suck a riptide, ‘Nata! I’m drinking my tea!” Adagio yelled. “Can’t you just bring it down here!?”

Silence reigned for a few, glorious moments and Adagio sighed as she settled back down in her favorite chair and took another sip. For being a near-immortal with, quite literally, all the time in the world, Adagio never did idle very well. There was always a plan to be executed or a goal to be accomplished. Places to go, people to see, riots to incite; that sort of thing.

A girl needs a hobby after all.

With that said, the rare moments where the world was quiet and she had nothing to do but relax were precious to Adagio. She enjoyed the few times she could find herself without anything to do and, more rarely, without any major drive to find something to do that always left her feeling restless if she ignored it. Peace was a rare thing to-

“DAAAAAAAGI~!”

“By Nodens Grace, sister or not, I will tie your ponytail to the ceiling fan if you don’t let me finish zenning out down here!” Adagio shouted up the stairs.

“But it’s Sunny!”

Adagio’s teacup clattered onto its porcelain saucer with rather less grace than Adagio usually gave it as she leapt up from her seat and scampered up the stairs. She took the steps two at a time as she ran to the small office that she shared with Sonata for their little joint ventures. There were two desks with full computer rigs set kitty-corner to one another in the middle of the room and a hammock strung between two of the walls at the east end of the room for when Aria wanted to spend time with them.

Coming to a skidding stop at the door Adagio stood, straightened her skirt, and walked calmly in to pick up her phone and thumbed open the text messages.

She became increasingly more upset as she read.

//Sunnylove: dagi? Do you have a sec? I’d really like someone to talk to right now.//

//Sunnylove: I fainted at school, or… I guess I had a panic attack and I ended up in the nurse's office. Gilda is in class and I’m really scared. Sorry if I’m bothering you.//

//Sunnylove: sorry, you must be busy, I’ll stop bothering you.//

Adagio had barely finished reading the message before hitting the Home button and sitting down on her office chair to begin pulling on her shoes.

“Hey, ‘Dagi, what’s wrong?” Sonata asked, peeking around her computer screen. “Your hair is doing that extra poofy thing it does when you’re angry.”

“My coiffure’s state of agitation is a non-issue, sister dear,” Adagio answered through a clenched jaw. “Sunset had a panic attack at school severe enough that she fainted and ended up in the nurses, so I’m going over there.”

“Wow, that sounds pretty bad,” Sonata replied nonchalantly. “Mind if I come? I’ve been cooped up in the house like, aaaaaa~ll day!”

Adagio looked up from her laced boots and stared evenly at her sister. “Really? ‘Nata, you haven’t left the house in over a week because you discovered that anime streaming site, remember?”

Sonata blinked and then shrugged. “I mean yeah, but I’m not wrong, I haven’t left the house all day.”

Dragging her hand down her face, Adagio nodded; acquiescing to the point that, yes, Sonata had indeed not left the house that day, regardless of how badly misleading that statement was.

“Can you be ready in three minutes?” Adagio asked flatly, to which Sonata nodded. “Fine, then meet me by the door.”

“Woohoo!” Sonata cheered as she hopped up from her desk.

A mistake as it turned out, since she hadn’t moved from there in some time and the blood flow had mostly cut off. Sonata tripped within seconds of standing, staggered and pitched forward with a yelp of surprise.

A sound that was neatly mirrored by Adagio as she lunged forward to catch her sister.

“Sonata!” Adagio cried out admonishingly as she cradled her younger sister. “Be more careful! ‘Near-ageless’ isn’t ‘invincible’! You can’t just stumble around, bash your head in, and then heal like before!”

“Uh, heh, sorry ‘Dagi,” Sonata said sheepishly as she wiggled her legs to get some of the feeling back in them.

“Don’t be sorry, be careful,” Adagio said softly as she lifted her sister back to her feet. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost one of you, it’s bad enough that Aria is a professional fighter now, I don’t need you braining yourself on your own desk.” Sighing, Adagio shook her head. “I swear, the moment I look away you’ve managed to cobble together another disaster… you may be my baby sister but you’re nearly twelve hundred years old!”

Through the whole of Adagio’s chastising, Sonata kept smiling until finally Adagio said: “WHAT?!”

“Nothing,” Sonata answered. “Just… I missed you, a lot.”

“We’ve been stuck with each other for the past thousand years barring that ill-plotted diversion a few centuries back,” Adagio said dryly. “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”

“Uh-uh, I mean I missed you,” Sonata darted a finger out and poked Adagio’s nose. “You acting like you. Like how you used to be when you were raising Aria and I after mom and dad died. I missed the you that cared about me.”

Adagio’s face fell slightly but she nodded nonetheless.

“I missed me too,” Adagio responded quietly, reaching out and ruffling Sonata’s hair. “But we’re back now, so go get your shoes on, dunce.”

Sonata giggled and hopped back to her feet, wobbling a little before dashing out of the office and leaving an exasperated Adagio behind her. Leaving the small office, Adagio followed her sister down, tracing her hand along the carved wooden rail of the stairs as she did.

It had been a wise investment, all those years ago, as most of Sonata’s investments were. A few houses here and there in specific locations, purchased centuries ago, maintained via a complex series of trust funds and phony inheritances, and passed down through the ‘family’ over the years. This house was certainly one of Adagio’s favorites, though. The square colonial styling, the smell of woodsmoke, coffee, and tea that permeated the walls… it was nostalgic and calming.

Adagio pulled out her phone and shot a quick text to Sunset as she reached the landing where Sonata was seated and pulling on her boots, before pulling on a bright pink sweater and dusting off her long jeans,

//Adagio: I’m on my way, love, don’t worry. And do let the locals know the big bad sirens will be paying a visit and that they come in peace.//

“Y’know, ‘Dagi, you’ve been different since you made friends with Sunny,” Sonata remarked as Adagio pushed the door opened, hissing at the chill in the air but relishing the scent of fresh snow nonetheless.

“Mm, is that so?” Adagio answered, only half listening as she pulled the key fob from her pocket and unlocked her car. “How so?”

“Dunno, just different,” Sonata replied. “Like, it’s almost like you’re treating her like she's one of us.”

Adagio’s hand froze on the handle of the car door at Sonata’s words.

Sonata continued unperturbed, though, as she walked around to the passenger side. “Y’know, like, you’re always fussing about her, like, ‘Sunset should do this…’ or ‘Sunset should really stop being so that…’ y’know? Like how you are when Aria and I do something stupid!”

Opening the door to the car and settling into the seat, Adagio stared forward for several moments before nodding.

“I… suppose I am,” Adagio agreed, “treating her like that, I mean… I wonder if it’s because she is a bit like us. Alien; a stranger in a strange land.”

“Maybe,” Sonata replied. “Maybe you just like being her friend and want her to be happy?”

Adagio chuckled dryly as she started the car and pulled out of the driveway.

“Adagio Dazzle? Scourge of the West Seas?” Adagio snarked, “The Ruinbringer and Harbinger of Strife wants someone else to be happy? Perish the thought.”

“Awww, maaaaa~n, now I really miss our old nicknames,” Sonata groaned, slumping against the window dramatically. “Aria had the best one; Ravager of Tides, now that’s a cool title.”

“I thought yours was perfectly good,” Adagio said, reaching over to pat Sonata’s head. “Voice of Pandaemonium is very dramatic.”

“It’s so long though,” Sonata complained. “And it doesn’t really roll of the tongue, I still think you got all the really good ones.”

“Perks of being the leader, sister mine,” Adagio replied with a grin.

The drive to Canterlot High School wasn’t a long one; their house wasn’t too deep in the hills that made up much of the north border of Canterlot. Finding parking was a nightmare of its own but they made good time, and it was barely eleven in the morning before they were walking up to the front doors of the high school.

And they weren’t alone.

“Adagio Dazzle and Sonata Dusk,” Principal Celestia said firmly as she stepped out of the doors to confront them on the steps. “By all rights I shouldn’t let you in.”

Adagio opened her mouth to snap back but a small part of her pulled the reins on that impulse. Technically, Celestia was right, there was no reason to let them in, and she certainly had the authority to deny them access. They weren’t students and were known troublemakers, so she would be well within her rights to deny them visitor passes and if they tried to get in anyway she could just have them escorted out.

Worst case scenario she called the police.

Letting out a slow breath, Adagio nodded. “You’re right, by all rights you shouldn’t, but we’re not here for us, we’re here because our friend is scared and asked us to come.”

Celestia’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Huh, so what Sunset said was true, then… well, I can’t very well argue that point, can I? Behave yourselves and we won’t have a problem, alright girls?”

“Aw, no problem at all!” Sonata chirped, skipping past. “We’ll be quiet as a tomb made for church mice!”

“Uh… good?” Celestia responded, not really certain how to feel about that simile.

“Try not to think too hard about it,” Adagio said with a wan smile as she walked past Celestia on her sister’s heels, “after a few hundred years you learn to just smile and nod.”

“Adagio, wait,” Celestia called after the siren who stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder at the Principal.

“Yes?”

Celestia walked up to Adagio, sighing and shaking her head. “Sunset… she’s not in a good place right now, I spoke to her less than an hour ago and she’s… not well. Fragile would be putting it delicately, I think.”

“I got that impression from her texts, yes,” Adagio agreed with a doleful nod. “What’s your point?”

“Just… don’t push her do anything rash, alright?” Celestia pleaded. “She’s vulnerable and what she needs is a friend.”

Adagio grinned and shrugged. “My days of manipulating people for funsies are over, Miss Sonen.” she said as she turned on her heel and started making her way into the school. Glancing back over her shoulder Adagio replied, “I wasn’t planning on doing anything but what I usually do for her now.”

“And what’s that?” Celestia asked, her brow furrowing as she followed.

“Giving her some honest advice.”

Sunset was in the midst of a smaller panic attack when the doors to the nurse's room opened to admit the two siren sisters, her one-time foes turned friendly.

“A-Adagio?!” Sunset stared as the fellow redhead sauntered in.

Maybe it had something to do with being an ages-old siren, but Adagio never just ‘walked’.

“Morning, Shimmy,” Adagio said with a soft smile as she approached Sunset and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Without warning, Adagio leaned in and gathered Sunset up in her arms and hugged her. For a moment, Sunset froze, then she relaxed and leaned into the embrace, resting her head against Adagio’s shoulder.

“How ya doin’, Sunny?” Sonata asked from the side in a much quieter voice than normal. “You don’t look so great.”

“I’m, uh… I’m okay,” Sunset said, pulling away a little only to wither a little under Adagio’s sudden glare.

“Don’t lie to me, Shimmer,” Adagio said crossly. “You’re clearly not okay, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t pretend.”

Sunset sagged a little but nodded.

“Pretty obvious, huh?”

Rolling her eyes, Adagio nodded. “You passed out and now you’re in the nurse’s room, Sunny, so yes, I’d call that fairly obvious.”

“Pre~tty sure passing out is bad, Sun-bun,” Sonata chirped from the side.

“Heh, yeah, worst day in a while actually,” Sunset admitted, running her hand over her arm sheepishly. “And humiliating… but uhm, it’s good to see you again, Sonata.”

“Call me ‘Nata!” Sonata replied, leaning in to give Sunset a quick hug. “Besides, Adagio already basically adopted you so you’re pretty much one of us now.”

Adagio turned red, sputtering as Sonata giggled.

“I feel like I’m missing something…” Sunset said, raising an eyebrow.

“Adagio’ll never admit it, but she only gets all fussy over family,” Sonata confided, leaning in to loudly stage whisper in Sunset’s ear. “It’s why we call her Momdagio, so if she ‘mom’s’ you it’s because she thinks of you as family.”

The silence was deafening as Sonata leaned away. Sunset stared at the two of them with an almost haunted look in her eyes and Adagio glanced worriedly at her sister before turning back to Sunset.

“Are you… alright, Sunset?” Adagio asked, noting that her friend’s hands were shaking almost violently. Acting on instinct, Adagio reached out and set one hand gently over Sunset’s. “Sunny? What’s wrong?”

Sunset took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to bleed away some of the tension that gripped her body like a vise.

“I… I’m sorry, I… apparently that’s not a word I’m super okay with,” Sunset said softly. “The… the last people who called me family literally dropped me like hot shit like, two days later and cut me out of their lives. The one before that effectively threw me out of my home, even if she didn’t quite intend it that way.”

“Wow,” Sonata said, one eyebrow raised in disbelief. “That sucks ass.”

“You’re the soul of tact, ‘Nata,” Adagio deadpanned before turning back to Sunset. “Whatever happened, you know we wouldn’t do that…” Adagio said soothingly, looping her hand into Sunset’s. “Trust me if we were the type to drop someone we considered family we would not have been able to endure a millennium of one another’s company.”

Sunset nodded silently for a moment before responding. “Y-yeah, in my head, I guess I know that. I mean, The three of you stuck together even though it looked like you hated each other… but…” Taking another breath, Sunset squeezed Adagio’s hand to reassure herself. “But I guess, to me, family just means someone who will eventually get rid of you.”

Sonata blew a raspberry as she hopped onto Sunset’s bed, carefully avoiding her legs as she pulled Sunset into a strong hug.

“No way!” Sonata huffed. “If ‘Dagi says you’re family now then you’re family, Sunny! And we’ll do pretty much anything for our family.”

“We’ve crossed oceans for one another,” Adagio said softly, “gone mad for one another, become sane for one another, we’ve… endured Tartarus to stay together. That, I think, is what family should be.” Joining the hug, Adagio leaned her forehead against Sunset’s and smiled. “Family is supposed to be the people you can always trust, the ones who will always have their arms open for you, Sunny. I know that’s not always what they are in reality but… it’s what we are, I promise.”

Feeling her body start to relax in the embrace of the two sirens, of her new ‘family’, Sunset nodded, wrapping her arms around the both of them.

“Dunno why,” Sunset mumbled, “but I believe you.”

Gilda lashed out a foot at a bin as she walked the long way round the outside of the school to the nurse’s office. She was still too pissed off and she didn’t want to stress out Sunset any more than she already was. Gilda knew she needed time to cool her jets but for some reason it just wasn’t happening. Every time she felt like she might be calming down she felt Dash’s lips against hers again, the sensation burned like acid and made her sick.

She knew she hadn’t cheated on Sunset. Gilda knew that… but at the same time Rainbow had taken something from her that she hadn’t wanted to give.

A kiss.

Just a kiss, right?

Gilda clenched her eyes shut as she swore and punched the wall, flinching as pain shot through her fist.

Except it wasn’t ‘just a kiss’. It would never be ‘just a kiss’. Sunset was the only one Gilda had ever wanted to kiss. The only one whose lips she ever wanted to feel on hers. The fact that someone had taken that away from her made her want to just start punching everything in sight until there was nothing left to punch.

Which brought her back around to why she hadn’t gone straight to the nurse’s office like she wanted to.

“Gilda?”

Gilda looked up to see Octavia looking at her with concern and Vinyl standing just behind her.

“Oh, uh, hey ‘Tavi, hey Blue,” Gilda said in a strained voice. “What’s up?”

Octavia glanced around at the knocked over bins and at Gilda’s bloody knuckles before looking back up at Gilda.

“Well,” Octavia began, looping her hands back behind her back as she walked forward. “You’re quite loud and currently terrifying the living daylights out of the student body, Gilda, so by all accounts I think I should be asking you that.”

Vinyl flashed a string of signs at her girlfriend and chuckled silently.

“Yes, well, that too,” Octavia responded before turning back to Gilda. “Sorry, we should also be asking why you’re here and not at Sunset’s side since you were called to the nurse’s office.”

“Uh, yeah…” Gilda replied, leaning against the wall school. “If y’couldn’t tell I ain’t in the best mood and… I don’t wanna scare Sunshine, y’know?”

Raising an eyebrow, Vinyl made another string of signs.

“Vinyl, rude!” Octavia snapped, smacking one of Vinyl’s hands lightly.

“What was that?” Gilda asked.

Octavia laughed a little nervously. “Oh, ah, she said someone must have really, ah… done a series of unmentionable things to your cereal if you’re in a bad enough mood to stay away from Sunset.”

Gilda was silent as she leaned against the wall, staring down at the concrete ground with a distant gaze as she tried to come up with an explanation.

“Gilda… what’s wrong?” Octavia asked, her voice taking on a more worried tone as she stepped closer and put a hand on the larger girl’s shoulder. “Please, talk to us.”

Vinyl signed several times to Gilda who just raised an eyebrow, but Octavia laughed.

“Sorry, she said: ‘best part of being mute is that you’re a great listener’,” Octavia translated. “And uh… ‘the worst part is when other people won’t shut up about themselves’, end quote.”

Gilda laughed a little at that and nodded. “Y-yeah, fair enough, Blue.”

“So…?” Octavia prompted.

Slowly breathing out, Gilda closed her eyes and nodded.

“Rainbow Dash… she kissed me.”

Vinyl and Octavia stared, shocked, at what Gilda had said. Octavia was the first to recover, working her jaw several times before finally getting the words out.

“What the f-”

“-UCK WERE YOU THINKIN’?!” Applejack practically roared, gripping Rainbow by the scruff of her neck and holding her up against the wall of the school.

After they had finally gotten her calmed down, Rarity and Applejack had listened intently as Rainbow Dash laid out everything that had happened between her and Gilda, both as kids, and how her father had lied about Gilda’s past, and how Gilda had conned Rainbow into abandoning her. When she got to the present day was when things began to deteriorate and around the kiss was when Applejack truly lost her temper. Even Rarity looked livid, in as much as the more austere and urbane girl could.

“I wasn’t okay?!” Rainbow cried, kicking her legs uselessly as the far taller and more muscular farmgirl stared furiously up at her. “I wasn’t thinking! I just… I just did it! I know it was stupid!”

“That is perhaps the biggest understatement of the year,” Rarity hissed, as she patted Applejack’s shoulder, silently instructing her girlfriend to let Rainbow down. “And I’m not saying that just because it’s the new year. You do realise we’re trying to get back into Sunset’s good graces right?”

“Y-yeah?” Dash said, as she dropped to her feet and started massaging her throat. “B-but… oh.”

Rarity’s eye twitched. “Ahem… ‘oh’?” Rarity repeated disbelievingly. “You just, as they say, macked on Sunset’s girlfriend and your response is ‘oh’?”

“Uhhh…” Rainbow could practically feel her brain spitting smoke as she withered under the glares of her two friends.

Rarity in particular was getting that crazy look in her eyes as she stared unblinking at Rainbow as if trying to find a way to disbelieve the sheer stupidity she had just heard out of existence by force of will.

“Basically, sugarcube, we’re probably now back t’square, like, negative fifty,” Applejack grumbled. “We were makin’ some progress and now Gilda’s gonna go n’tell Sunset what happened,” Applejack raised a hand, forestalling any argument from Rainbow, “and she will ‘cause Gilda’s an honest sorta gal, trust me… and then Sunset’s gonna know you tried t’steal Gilda from’er.”

“I… I didn’t, though!” Rainbow pleaded. “I swear I just… it was like, I wanted it to be a different way but I didn’t mean I was trying to steal her girlfriend! I was just upset and… and…”

“Rainbow I want you to very carefully consider things from Sunset’s perspective,” Rarity said, breathing out slowly to calm down as she put her hands on Dash’s shoulders. “She has very, very little in this world right now. Gilda is her strongest emotional anchor and whatever it was you meant to do, the fact is that you just threatened that.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide as the full impact of Rarity’s words settled in.

“D’ya’ll get it now?” Applejack said sternly. “We already got’a slew’a things t’apologise to Sunset for and Ah was startin’ t’hope that maybe sometime soon we’d have the chance t’do that.”

“I… I didn’t mean to,” Rainbow said in a quiet, slightly broken voice. “I swear I didn’t I just…”

“Wasn’t thinkin’, yeah,” Applejack finished, “Trust me, Ah got that, and Ah get that ya’ll didn’t mean anythin’ by it but the fact is ya’ll still did it and frankly I ain’t really sure how Ah’m gonna smooth that out… Sunset barely talks t’me, she sure as shootin’ don’t talk t’anyone else, and Ah’m pretty sure she only talks t’me ‘cause Gilda put in a good word.”

“Speaking of which, we really should thank her for that,” Rarity said offhandedly, nudging Applejack. “For that and, ah, a few other things…”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, glancing between her two friends. Rarity was looking at Applejack smugly while the latter was blushing brightly and trying to hide something under a grimace.

“Woah… wait,” Rainbow muttered before a wide grin broke out on her face, “You two… are you-?”

Rarity smiled rather like a cat that had caught its canary before leaning up and planting a kiss on Applejack’s lips.

“Mhm, finally did,” Rarity said with a self-satisfied smirk. “And, if you can believe it, Gilda was the reason it happened.”

Staring in disbelief, Rainbow just shook her head. “Okay, I’m gonna need to hear about that sometime, but right now we gotta figure out how to unfuck what I just fucked up.”

“As bluntly as that was put, yes,” Rarity agreed, grimacing. “Let’s get the girls together, then, I presume we probably should try to ‘unfuck’ this as soon as humanly possible.”

“Rainbow, Ah gotta ask somethin’ though,” Applejack started, walking up to Rainbow and looking down at her. “What would you’a done if Gilda had actually gone through with ya’ll kissin’ her? LIke, what if she’d felt the same way?”

“Whad’ya mean?” Rainbow asked, her face contorting ni confusion. “She didn’t.”

“Ah know that what ah’m sayin’ is ‘what if’, right?” Applejack pointed a finger at Rainbow, right between her eyes. “Ya’ll’re childhood friends, were pretty dang close, and she was real protective of ya, still is s’matter’a fact. So it ain’t that far off t’think it mighta happened.”

“But it didn’t,” Rainbow insisted.

“We know, darling,” Rarity said sadly. “What Applejack is saying is, on the wild, off-chance it had happened… what do you think would have happened to Sunset?”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to respond before the weight of the question hit her and she closed her mouth.

“Yeah,” Applejack said darkly, “Ah reckon ya’ll should think on that for a bit ‘cause Ah’ll tell ya what, Ah’m pretty sure it woulda destroyed her.”

“We can only pray that Sunset doesn’t take this personally, darling,” Rarity said softly, looping her arm around Applejacks and pulling herself closer to the taller girl.

“What a phenomenal bitch,” Octavia croaked in disbelief, staring straight forward as Gilda finished telling her what happened. “Of all the awful, idiotic, thoughtless and utterly brainless things to do, I should think even Rainbow Dash would have had enough sense than to try something like that!”

“What am I even gonna tell Sunshine, huh?!” Gilda asked, running her hands nervously through her hair. “How am I gonna tell’er someone else kissed me?!”

Octavia moved around to face Gilda directly, reaching up to put her hands on Gilda’s cheeks and lift her face so they were staring at one another.

“You know she won’t think less of you, right?” Octavia asked in a stony voice. “Rainbow surprised you, you pushed her away and that was the end of it.”

“I know!” Gilda cried. “I… I know, but just knowin’ they tried t’take something else from’er?! The Rainbooms?! C’mon, Cello, what if she pops again?!”

“I heard she fainted, yes,” Octavia said sadly, turning to Vinyl who nodded and signed a few times. “Right, yes, and now she’s waiting for you in the nurse’s office and I suspect you’re rather late.”

“I… yeah, savvy,” Gilda agreed. “But what do I do?”

“Be there for her,” Octavia replied. “Yes, I imagine when you tell her she will be hurt, so just be there. Give her whatever she needs in that moment, because I guarantee she’ll need you.”

Vinyl tapped on Octavia’s shoulder and made a few quick signs at her.

“Oh, certainly, love,” Octavia said before turning back to Gilda. “Sorry, Vinyl wanted to say something, I’ll translate.”

Vinyl started signing, Octavia watching closely for a second before starting speaking.

“You can’t avoid her, Gilda,” Vinyl signed, “and you can’t treat her like a glass doll either. You’re not doing her a kindness by treating her like she’ll collapse in a light breeze.” Vinyl cracked her knuckles and gestured towards the nurse’s office before going back to signing. “You’ve got to trust her to get through it, and if she needs help you need to be there to help her, it’s as simple as that.”

“Dunno, Blue,” Gilda said, shoving her hands in her pockets. “I just… the last thing I wanna do is hurt’er y’know?”

Vinyl smiled before signing, Octavia’s translation catching up a breath later. “Hurt happens, what really matters is whether or not you’re willing to be there afterwards to clean up.”

“Believe me, she would know,” Octavia said, nodding to Vinyl. “I may look put together but to be honest when I fall apart it’s equally impressive.”

Vinyl tapped Octavia again to get her attention before starting signing again.

“We all fall apart sometimes, it’s life,” Vinyl continued. “It’s not a matter of holding it in, it’s a matter of who’s there to hold us up when it all comes out. We can’t live our lives alone, we’re not made for it no matter what some people think.” Quickly glancing round to make sure they were alone, Vinyl leaned in to sneak a kiss from Octavia, getting a high pitched squeak of surprise in response. “I think that’s the point of love,” Vinyl signed, Octavia only barely recovering from the little sneak attack to catch up, “family love, friendly love, or our kind of love… sometimes it’s about both of us being so exhausted that the only thing holding us up in the rain is one another.”

“Vinyl is right, Gilda,” Octavia said softly, taking her hand. “Sunset needs someone to be there for her, yes, but specifically she needs you. So I recommend you stop dilly-dallying and go talk things through with your girl.”

“Yeah, y’right,” Gilda agreed, laughing a little. “Heh, who knew havin’ real friends’d actually be kinda nice?”

“Friends hold us up as much as anything else, I think,” Octavia replied.

Waving off Octavia and Vinyl, Gilda stretched, cracked her knuckles and took off sprinting towards the nurse’s office. It wasn’t far, she’d been dawdling but only because she’d been trying to delay the inevitable. Vinyl was right, there was no getting around what had to be done and even though it would probably hurt Sunset, Gilda had to be there for her. She’d weather the storm just like she always did and Sunset would come out of it just fine.

Gilda intended to make sure of it.

Stopping at the door to the office, Gilda swallowed hard and opened it up to walk inside. She was greeted by the sounds of conversation and light laughter, surprisingly.

“Sunshine?” Gilda called out as she walked into the room.

A part of her was concerned, Sunset hadn’t seemed like she was up for visitors, but the moment she laid eyes on Adagio who was sitting on the bed beside Sunset with her arm around the girl, Gilda relaxed. More surprising was Sonata Dusk who was sitting at the far end of the bed and smiling.

Sunset’s eyes lit up like stars the moment Gilda walked into the room, and she practically surged out of Adagio’s grip to extend her arms out to Gilda.

“Gil!” Sunset cried, and Gilda laughed as she leaned in to wrap her arms around Sunset. “I missed you…” Sunset whispered softly as she nestled into Gilda’s embrace.

“Heh, hey there pretty lady,” Gilda said playfully, nuzzling against Sunset’s cheek and not so subtly relishing the feeling of being back in proximity to Sunset just as much as she was. “But, yeah… sorry it took me a bit, I was kinda in the middle’a somethin’.”

“Something so important you delayed returning to your beloved’s side?” Adagio asked wryly. “I can’t even imagine.”

Gilda’s face fell and Adagio’s eyes narrowed instantly in concern.

“Y-Yeah, it was… a thing…” Gilda said uneasily.

“I see,” Adagio replied.

“Uh, you two mind, uh… givin’ us a few minutes?” Gilda asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence. “I got something I need t’talk t’Sunshine here about.”

Sunset looked up at Gilda a touch nervously but nodded to Adagio and Sonata.

“Alright, we’ll be just outside though,” Adagio promised. “I hardly think Principal Celestia would approve of us reprobates wandering her hallowed halls of learning.”

The two siren sisters left the small, cot-filled room, leaving Gilda sitting on the edge of the bed next to a worried-looking Sunset.

“Babe?” Sunset asked softly, shifting a little closer. “What’s wrong?”

Gilda stared down at the ground, trying to work her brain around how she was going to say what she knew she needed to say. In her mind’s eye she could see the look on Sunset’s face. The hurt and the pain, and it choked the words to death in her throat. Gilda shut her eyes, trying to screw up the courage but finding nothing, how could she-?

A pair of soft, gentle hands settled onto Gilda’s cheeks, and she turned to see Sunset staring up at her with a small smile.

“Don’t hold back, Gil,” Sunset said quietly. “Whatever you’re going to say is going to hurt, isn’t it?”

Gilda nodded.

“You don’t need to shelter me, babe,” Sunset said. “I know I seem fragile, and I know I still fall apart and I know that you want more than anything in the world to protect me.” Leaning up, Sunset kissed Gilda, smiling into her lips as Gilda wrapped her arms around Sunset. As she pulled away, Sunset reached up and flicked a stray hair from Gilda’s eyes. “I know because I want to do the same thing for you, so talk to me, okay? No gentle words, just tell me.”

“I talked t’Rainbow Dash a bit ago,” Gilda began, leaning into Sunset and taking comfort from her. “She wanted t’talk about us, y’know, her n’me, and how we used t’be friends. Guess her dad lied t’her about what happened to my folks, savvy? She didn’t know what happened.”

“That’s awful,” Sunset said, furrowing her brow. “I mean, I guess I see where her dad was coming from but-”

“That’s not it,” Gilda said darkly. “We started talking, and it was… good, y’know? Like we were almost gettin’ to be friends again, except…”

“What?” Sunset asked, “what happened?”

“She kissed me, Sunny,” Gilda admitted, grimacing as Sunset stared, poleaxed at Gilda’s words. “We were just… talkin’, then outta nowhere she goes up and just plants one on me and I snap. I pushed her away and socked her ‘tween the eyes and… and it doesn’t even fuckin’ matter ‘cause it’s like I can still feel her lips and I hate it!”

Sunset worked her jaw soundlessly for a moment as the full weight of what Gilda said leveled onto her.

Then her vision went red with a blinding fury.

“SHE WHAT?!” Sunset screamed, shocking Gilda into standing from the bed. “How… She…” The sound of sizzling and creaking, warping metal filled the air. “She tried to… that fucking wh-”

“Sunset stop!” Gilda shouted, holding out her hands with a look of fear on her face that snapped Sunset back to reality.

Something else snapped too, the shriek of ripping metal sounded from either side of Sunset. Looking down Sunset lifted her hands to find she was holding two bars of metal, warped, twisted, and glowing red with the shape of her handprint. Her hands were shaking and, with some effort, Sunset relaxed her fingers and they pried free of the metal. Glancing to the side, Sunset saw that she’d torn the simple metal railing from the side of the medical cot.

Shaking, Sunset threw the metal bars away from her, sending them clattering across the floor as Adagio and Sonata came rushing back into the room. They glanced down worriedly at the smoking metal where it lay discarded on the linoleum tiles.

“Sunny?” Sonata asked, her eyes filled with concern.

Lifting her hands, Sunset’s eyes twitched as tiny flares of flame, snapped in and out of existence from her fingers and palm.

“S-stop,” Sunset mumbled, shaking her hands as if they had some unpleasant insect on them. “Stop! Stop! STOP IT!”

With every word Sunset became more frantic, shaking her hands violently as flame and embers dripped from them onto the covers, wherever they touched they danced and spread and Gilda swore viciously as she dashed forward and started patting out the small flames before they grew any bigger.

“G-Gilda, help me!” Sunset begged, eyes glowing as they went wide in terror as she held up her hands. Flames spat and sparked, and her body was glowing, Gilda could see her veins alight with magical energy. “Please!”

Snapping beams and bars of molten light twisted and twined through Sunset’s hair and around her body giving her an otherworldly look. Wherever the light touched, heat seared fabric and warped metal. The heat was so intense it cut like a blade through whatever it touched.

“Get away from her, quickly!” Adagio cried, grabbing at Gilda’s shoulder. “She’s flaring, there’s nothing you can do!”

Gilda staggered back as Sonata and Adagio both seized onto her shoulders as an arc of magical energy snapped near her. Sweat broke out on Gilda’s face and arms as a torrent of fiery heat slammed over her, nearly knocking the wind from her lungs. Wincing against the intense light, Gilda stared as Sunset curled in on herself, the cot smoldering and burning, the metal frame wilting as the metal rapidly heated.

“Bullshit!” Gilda snapped.

Acting on instinct, Gilda did the same thing she always did when Sunset was having a panic attack; she lunged forward, her eyes traced the three dimensional arcs and coils of power and even as her eyes burned for her to blink or close them, she found something there.

A pattern.

Diving through, GIlda wrapped Sunset in a tight embrace, pulling her close, pressing Sunset’s face to her shoulder and tangling her fingers into Sunset’s hair to calmly start petting her head, even as she could feel the intense, monstrous heat that was bleeding from her body.

“Ssh,” Gilda whispered. “S’okay, Sunshine… it’s okay, I gotcha…”

Sunset shook violently, her hands held wide out from Gilda who was hugging her tightly.

“It’s okay,” Gilda repeated, “it’s okay… you’re gonna be fine, baby, I got you, savvy? I ain’t ever lettin’ you go, Sunshine.”

The heat began to die down as Sunset’s emotional state leveled out. Sunset’s breath came in deep, gulping heaves as she buried her face against Gilda’s shoulder.

“That was incredibly dangerous, Gilda,” Adagio’s voice came from behind Gilda and Sunset. “Do you understand that you just dove between arcs of plasma? They were only barely contained within thaumatic fields; if they had touched you that would have been it. The shock likely would have killed you.”

“Well what did you expect me to do?!” Gilda hissed, pulling Sunset tightly against her, and casting a dark glare over her shoulder. “My Sunshine was begging for my help, I wasn’t just gonna sit back.”

“You ought to have,” Sonata replied. “That was a flare, they end on their on… usually.”

“Yeah well, I wasn’t gonna take the risk, savvy?” Gilda snapped before turning back to Sunset who was curled up in Gilda’s arms. “H-Hey, Sunflower, how ya doin’?”

Sunset was panting, her face was pale and her eyes were distant and glazed. After a few moments she seemed to snap back to reality and looked around the room, wincing at the damage.

“I… I flared…” Sunset mumbled. “I haven’t flared since I was four years old…”

“Someone wanna enlighten the dumb monkey?” Gilda asked in a dry voice.

“Basically, they’re like magical growing pains,” Sonata said with a grin.

Adagio put a hand on Sonata’s head and pushed her out of the way, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. “Sunset, you should probably explain it, I’m going to go speak to your Principal about the damages.”

Seizing Sonata by the ear, Adagio strode out of the room dragging her protesting sister as Sunset and Gilda watched on.

“Damn, that girl has some swing in her backdoor,” Gilda remarked.

“Tell me about it,” Sunset agreed before shaking her head and grimacing at the damage she’d inflicted. “A-anyway… Sonata wasn’t exactly wrong but… flares are more than just growing pains, although I guess it could be different for sirens.”

Gilda tightened her grip on Sunset ever so slightly and buried her face in Sunset’s hair, shuddering as she breathed in her girlfriend’s scent and gently stroked her back.

“I’m okay, Gil,” Sunset said softly. “You got to me, I’m fine…” Gilda nodded silently but didn’t move, and after a moment Sunset felt a faint wetness in her hair.

Gilda was crying.

“Oh… babe,” Sunset pulled away, reached her hands up to Gilda’s face, and drew her down so Sunset was cradling GIlda’s head. “Ssh, it’s okay, I’m fine, I promise I’m just fine.”

“What happened?” Gilda sobbed. “You looked like you were dyin’, babe, like you were burning alive!”

“I know,” Sunset replied in a quiet voice. “I’m sorry, it’s… it’s because of my magic. What you saw is called a thaumic flare, it’s something that happens in particularly powerful unicorn foals and, rarely, in adults during… times of great stress.”

Pulling away from Sunset, Gilda wiped at her eyes and stared down at Sunset in concern. “I-is it gonna happen again?”

Sunset shrugged. “I… I don’t know, Gil, it shouldn’t have happened at all,” she replied, looking worried. “Maybe? I really don’t know… magic isn’t even supposed to be in this world.”

“Hey Sunshine, that thing ya said on New Years Eve?” Gilda started. “About your magic, like, how most of the ones who use your magic… they blow themselves up?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sunset said, wincing a little a slightly regretting admitting that out loud. In her defense she hadn’t imagined it would ever be relevant. “Y-yeah, when Pyrothurges experience a flare the results can be, uh… explosive.”

Breathing out slowly, Gilda nodded before silently stepping away from the ruined cot she and Sunset had been sharing. Gesturing for Sunset to raise her arms a little, Gilda leaned in and lifted Sunset out of the wreck and carried her over to her wheelchair which had mercifully escaped the blaze, having been moved away to make room for the sirens. Settling Sunset into the chair, Gilda turned and grimaced at the scorched remains of the blankets that had originally been covering Sunset’s legs.

“Fuck it, I’ll bring it back later,” Gilda grumbled and grabbed a blanket off one of the cots and threw it over Sunset’s lower half. “C’mon, babe, we’re outta here.”

Sunset nodded, a part of her wanted to argue that it felt like she was just running away again but given everything that had happened the last thing she felt was safe. She didn’t feel safe for herself or for other people to be around, no one but Gilda and even then… well, it’s not like Gilda was going to leave anyway.

“Yeah,” Sunset said finally, her face falling as she leaned back into her wheelchair and wrapped her arms around herself. “Yeah… that’s probably a good idea.”

Sighing, Gilda rolled Sunset towards the door, only stopping to retrieve her things from the small cart by the nurse’s office.

“I know you were hopin’ it’d go different, babe,” Gilda said quietly as she helped Sunset get into her jacket and put on her socks and shoes. “Dunno why, since this school’s apparently populated by, like, a hundred morons for every decent one.”

Sunset laughed a little and Gilda smiled. “Heh, glad I can still make ya laugh.”

“You can always make me laugh, Gil,” Sunset replied, tucking her scarf around her neck and pulling her beanie on. “I just… I don’t want to be chased out again, I want to be able to stand up for myself again,” she said, before glaring down at her legs and grimacing. “Figuratively speaking, I mean.”

“I wasn’t gonna say it,” Gilda said entirely unconvincingly. “But f’real, babe, this is the mall all over again, we gotta take it slow, a’right?”

Scowling, Sunset grumbled a little but nodded. “I just hate feeling… weak. I shouldn’t be this affected by this stuff, Gil. I shouldn’t be falling apart left and right! I’m better than that, I’m stronger than that.”

Gilda sighed as she started pushing Sunset out of the nurse’s room, stopping only to pass a piece of paper and pen to Sunset so she could pen a note for Nurse Manners about what happened, although Adagio probably was seeing to that.

“Y’lost yer legs, Sunshine,” Gilda said in a steel-hard voice that made Sunset flinch. “Dunno if ya realise it but that was only like, a month ago. Most people wouldn’t even be goin’ outside yet, and you’re tryin’ to live your life again already.”

“I… I don’t want to let this change who I am, Gil,” Sunset said softly.

“It’s gonna,” Gilda replied, dryly. “C’mon, babe, let’s be real here, this ain’t small potatoes, this kinda shit is gonna change you but it don’t have to be a bad thing.”

“It is if it keeps me hiding indoors like a coward for the rest of my life,” Sunset retorted, feeling a flash of anger and annoyance.

“Yeah, like anything could really do that,” Gilda scoffed. “Look at you, Sunshine, y’ain’t the type t’just take shit lyin’ down, and you’re not gonna end up a shut in. Pretty sure if that were even possible it’d’ve happened by now.”

“Maybe I’m just overly sensitive about it… I never did sit still very well,” Sunset admitted, sighing again. “Ugh, I hate just sitting on my duff all day, though!”

“Then we’ll do somethin’ else,” Gilda said smiling as they turned a corner. “Y’said you were worryin’ about gettin’ heavier, yeah? So let’s get you workin’ out or somethin’.”

Sunset smiled at that and nodded. “Yeah… yeah I like the sound of tha-”

“Hey, Anon-A-Bitch!”

Sunset’s eyes snapped wide at the sound of the voice from down the hall and Gilda flinched as the temperature around her leapt up twenty degrees as Sunset swiveled her head around looking for the source of the voice. Gilda set a hand on Sunset’s shoulder, massaging it loosely trying to keep her calm. After a moment, Sunset let out a breath and looked up at Gilda with worry in her eyes.

“You heard that right?” Sunset asked, “I’m not going crazy?”

“Nah, I heard it, babe,” Gilda snarled as she looked around.

A crash of something hitting the lockers sounded from around another corner drew both Gilda and Sunset’s attention. Sunset pulled her gloves tight and gripped her wheels, pulling herself out of Gilda’s hands as she rolled down the hall and jerked hard around the corner.

Lightning Dust stood over Apple Bloom who was knocked to the ground and cradling her side. In front of her were a plethora of scattered school-books and supplies. Misty Fly stood off to the side glaring down at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who were staring down worriedly at their friend.

“Hope you didn’t think that little apology you gave in assembly last year was gonna get you out of trouble,” Lightning Dust snarled as she planted her foot on Apple Bloom’s back and pushed her down.

Apple Bloom gave out a muffled cry of pain as she dropped and Sunset felt her jaw clench as she realised that Lightning Dust was still wearing her spiked soccer cleats.

Misty shot a nasty grin down at Apple Bloom. The moment her eyes were off of Sweetie Belle though, Sweetie darted forward and drove her shoulder into Lightning Dust sending her stumbling back with a muttered curse.

“Get off of her!” Sweetie shouted, her hands clenched into shaking fists as she did her best to glare at Lightning Dust.

Scootaloo tried to join her friend but Misty knocked her back with a shove as Lightning advanced on Sweetie with a twisted, ugly grimace on her face.

“You want a turn you little priss?” Lightning said in a low voice. “Fine, I guess we can do that now.”

Lightning Dust was easily as competitive as Rainbow Dash, Sunset knew that along with just about everyone else in the school. Lesser known fact of the teal-skinned girl was her wicked temper and penchant for low blows. That said, the whole reason the unpleasant girl was on the soccer team at all was simple: she was very good at what she did.

All of that skill at soccer meant that Sweetie Belle never even saw Lightning’s foot as she snapped a kick out directly into Sweetie’s gut, dropping her to the ground as the freshman girl dry heaved on the ground, curling into the fetal position around her bruised stomach.

“Sweetie!” Scootaloo tried to dive past Misty but got a fist to her face for her trouble, sending her staggering back again but this time with a bloody nose to show for it.

“W-we said we were sorry,” Apple Bloom coughed as she tried to get up from the floor. “Ah don’t know what else we can do, Dust!”

Lightning shot Apple Bloom that unpleasant smirk of hers and cracked her knuckles. “Well, considering you spent about a month making the school your emotional punching bag, I figure you might as well return the favor, only, y’know… physically.”

“Sticks and stones,” Misty jeered as she circled and slapped Scootaloo across the back of her head.

“Lightning, Misty! Get away from them,” Sunset shouted, having heard more than enough as she rolled forward.

The two girls stared up as Sunset approached them in her wheelchair, her eyes burning with anger. Literally, her eyes were almost lit from behind.

“Cool it, Sunshine,” Gilda muttered from the corner of her mouth quietly as she walked alongside Sunset. “Y’gonna set the fuckin’ school on fire at this rate.”

“I know, I’m trying,” Sunset said softly before turning her full attention back to Lightning and Misty.

“H-Hey there Shimmer,” Lightning stammered, stepping back and away from the three girls and dragging Misty with her. “Look, about last year, I’m like, super sorry about that, but uh, hey! I softened’em up for ya if you wanna take a couple swings!”

Lightning Dust gestured to the bruised and bloodied ‘Crusaders’ who were staring terrified up at Sunset and Gilda.

Gilda felt her heart nearly seize up as she stared down at the three girls. She could feel fury pounding in her ears and red tinged her vision as she thought about all the pain and ruin that the three had purposefully visited on Sunset. Gilda had no clue why they did but it didn’t matter to her, there was no reason on the planet good enough to justify the shit they pulled and only knowing how Sunset would look at her kept Gilda from visiting the beating of a lifetime on them.

Sunset stared impassively down at the terrified girls before flicking her eyes up to Lightning and Misty.

“Get the fuck out of my sight,” Sunset said in a voice like a knife being unsheathed. “And if I see or even hear that you hurt them again I will personally set your ass on fire and just in case you think I’m being figurative,” Sunset lifted her hand and lit a searing white flame in her palm, “I’m not.”

The color drained from both Misty and Lightning’s faces as they nodded dumbly before backing away and then turning and sprinting in the opposite direction from Sunset. Gilda stared down at Sunset in surprise as the redhead let out a calming breath and closed her eyes. As the air left Sunset’s lungs, Gilda saw the flame in her palm diminish and fade to nothingness.

“S-Sunset…?” Apple Bloom’s voice was soft and tremulous as Sunset opened her eyes to look down at the youngest child of the Apple Family who was slowly rising to her feet.

Sunset scanned their faces dispassionately. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be feeling but right now all she felt was a combination of rising irritation and vague pity.

The Crusaders on the other hand looked mortified.

Admittedly, Sunset couldn’t say she was surprised that they were staring at her wheelchair, but it didn’t really make it any less annoying. After a moment of silence Sunset spread her arms and gestured down at herself.

“Well, go ahead, take a good look, girls,” Sunset said in a grim voice. “Did you get what you wanted from me? I have no fucking clue what your reasoning was behind this whole goddamn clown fiesta but I hope you at least hit your goal.”

Gilda stared down at Sunset, blinking in surprise at the venom in Sunset’s voice.

“What’s wrong? Nothing to post?” Sunset snapped, feeling her temper rise but ignoring it as Apple Bloom, Sweetie, and Scootaloo flinched and stared down at the ground.

“Look at me,” Sunset said softly.

None of the three could, their eyes remaining fixed on the tile floor of the school as the temperature slowly rose around them. Sunset’s fists were clenched hard and she winced as she felt her fingernails bite deeply enough into her palms to draw trickle of blood that hissed on contact with the air around her.

“Look… at… me,” Sunset repeated slowly.

“NOW!”

Sunset’s voice rattled the lockers and all three girls opened their eyes, staring at Sunset in terror as she glared at them.

“You three ruined me,” Sunset hissed. “Because of you I had to choose between a broken body and being separated from my-... from Gilda and all of my real friends for literal years or decades.”

“We… we didn’t-” Sweetie sobbed as she recoiled from the fury in Sunset’s voice. “It was a mistake, Sunset… we were just…”

“You really gonna try’n explain y’selves?” Gilda asked in a low, angry voice. “Lemme give ya some advice… don’t. ‘Cause this shit ain’t ever gonna be fixed.”

“I’ve lost everything so many times,” Sunset said, tears falling and hissing away as she rolled forward towards them. “And I get it, all that loss? I did that to myself. But I was finally trying to be good! I had finally, finally learned my lesson!” Her voice had risen until she was shouting and the girls were staggering back with tears in their eyes. “Is this what your world teaches?! Hurt them until they learn their lesson then keep hurting them until they learn that it doesn’t matter?!”

“We’re sorry,” Apple Bloom sobbed quietly. “We didn’t mean to… we… we didn’t think-”

“NO SHIT!” Sunset shrieked, her voice cracking. “I can’t even fathom someone doing what you three did on purpose without being completely evil.” The wind seemed to go out of Sunset at those words as she leaned back in her chair. “Even when I was in charge here I never isolated people… I always made sure people had some kind of social circle because… because I knew how bad being completely alone felt.”

Sunset looked around the school with tired eyes, looking over the walls, floors, and banks of lockers when a cool sensation sent a welcome shock of relief over her face and she glanced down to see Gilda softly caressing her cheek. Sunset smiled, turning just enough to brush her lips over Gilda’s fingers. Turning back to the Crusaders, Sunset stared angrily at them.

“Congratulations girls,” Sunset said softly. “You did something even I didn’t think was possible; you managed to be worse than me in pretty much every way.” Sighing Sunset raised a hand to the bridge of her nose and pinched it, feeling an oncoming headache. “I literally cannot imagine what your plan was except to ruin my life, so if that was the goal, well…”

The words, ‘you did it’ were on her tongue but they never made it past her lips as Sunset felt Gilda stroke her fingers idly through Sunset’s messy tangle of red and gold hair.

Gilda was standing and impassively staring at the three girls, as Sunset gave them a verbal lashing with a stony expression. As Sunset’s silence stretched on, Gilda glanced down at her, and a smile tugged softly at the edges of her mouth as she looked down at the redhead. Sunset’s eyes widened a little as she saw the warmth in Gilda’s eyes, something infinitely bright and beautiful shone behind those gorgeous golden orbs. Sunset knew Gilda was mad, she was angry on Sunset’s behalf, she had to be… but in that moment the anger was gone; there wasn’t even a hint of the fury that she knew was deep in Gilda’s heart.

There was just warmth; Gilda looked down at Sunset and even though Sunset knew Gilda must be so angry at the Crusaders for everything they’d done… she was smiling for Sunset.

The dull, aching ember in Sunset’s chest flickered as it cooled, and Sunset turned back to the Crusaders with a calmer expression.

“Well… you failed.”

All three Crusaders looked up at Sunset in surprise as she stared down the hall at them, gripping the armrest of her chair hard but without the rage that had come upon her earlier in the nurse’s room.

“You tried to destroy me, even if it was by accident,” Sunset continued, “but I guess at least you can take a little comfort in the fact that you managed to screw even that part up.”

Scootaloo stepped past Sweetie and Apple Bloom and stopped a few feet from Sunset, looking pale and upset, swallowing dryly she looked down at Sunset’s wheelchair for a moment before looking back up to the redhead who was glaring at her.

“Wanna take a picture?” Sunset asked caustically.

“This is our fault?” Scootaloo asked hollowly. “We… we did this to you?”

Sunset shrugged. “Pretty much, I mean, I can definitely say if it weren’t for Anon-A-Miss I’d still have my legs, but…” A grim smile etched a line across Sunset’s face. Even Gilda raised an eyebrow at the ugly expression on Sunset’s face. “Silver lining, though; if it weren’t for Anon-A-Miss I’d also still be friends with those liars you call sisters so, yeah, and I’d have never met my…” Sunset trailed off for a moment.

Sighing, Sunset looked up at Gilda and smiled again, but this time there was only love in it.

“Hey Gil?” Sunset said softly, drawing Gilda’s gaze. “I love you.”

Gilda chuckled and shrugged. “Helluva time f’that, Sunshine, but I love you too.”

Turning back, Sunset fixed Scootaloo and the others with a wholly different expression as the three girls were glancing between Gilda and Sunset in surprise.

“All dressing down aside, I think the last thing I have to say to the three of you is this,” Sunset said softly and the three Crusaders braced themselves.

“Thank you.”

“Beg pardon?” Apple Bloom asked in shock.

“I said ‘thank you’,” Sunset repeated, rolling forward to stop in front of Apple Bloom. Reaching out, she put a hand on Apple Bloom’s head and let out a dry laugh. “Because in the end I also only met Gilda because of Anon-A-Miss so… I figure all things being fair I should thank you for the one good thing you three managed to make out of this whole mess.”

Apple Bloom screwed up her face in confusion, looking up at Sunset’s hand as she pulled it away. Her eyes widened as she saw the slight glint of light play off of the little metal loop on Sunset’s finger.

“Is that-?!” Apple Bloom started but Sunset’s finger pressed to her lips, shushing her.

“Not a word,” Sunset said in a dry voice before pulling her hand back and turning to Gilda. “C’mon babe, let’s go home.”

Gilda nodded and took a hold of Sunset’s wheelchair handles and started pushing her towards the exit on the other side of the hall. Before they got too far, a small voice stopped them in their tracks.

“Sunset?” Sweetie stepped between her friends to stop in front of Gilda and Sunset who turned, eyebrow raised to fix Sunset with a pointed look.

There were a thousand and one things that Sweetie wanted to say to Sunset; she wanted to apologise, she wanted to beg for forgiveness, she wanted to plead with Sunset not to punish their sisters for the mistakes of her and her friends. Every single word turned to ash in her mouth, though as she heard them play out in her head. In the end, they all sounded selfish and hollow and empty.

Finally, Sweetie took a step closer and held out her small, pale hand towards Sunset.

“Thanks for helping us, and good luck.”

Sunset blinked in surprise, but smiled faintly and nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s all we really have to say to each other anymore, huh?” Reaching out, Sunset took Sweetie’s hand and shook it. “Good luck to you too, Miss Belle.”

Nodding, Sweetie turned back to her friends. “C’mon girls, let’s go.”

“Weird chick,” Gilda said dryly as they parted ways. “Hate to say it but I kinda like’er, that girl’s got some brass balls on’er.”

“Heh, kinda,” Sunset agreed. “Hopefully they learned something, I have to admit, I can’t really stay mad at them.”

“Because of us?” Gilda said, more than asked.

“Yeah…” Sunset replied. “Whatever they meant to do, I can say with total honesty, if it weren’t for them I’d never have really met you. So in a weird, ass-backwards way… it’s all thanks to them I’m getting married one day.”

“I swear t’god, Sunshine, if you make those little shits your bridesmaids I will throw the altar at them,” Gilda groused.

Sunset burst out laughing as Gilda pushed her through the side doors and into the sun and chilly wind. “Tirek’s balls, no, not even a chance!” Sunset replied. “Besides, you’re gonna be the one wearing the dress.”

“Wait, what?”

Gilda struck the ground hard, panting as her vision doubled. Wobbling slightly on her feet, she almost got her balance before another wave of vertigo struck her and she toppled backwards onto her ass.

“Ugh, what am I even supposed t’do with this fuckin’ thing, Sunflower?” Gilda groaned from the ground, turning her head to glare at the crackling spear in her right hand. “I can barely use it for more than a couple minutes before I get the mother of all hangovers.”

Sunset laughed softly as she rolled over the grass towards Gilda. “I know it’s asking a lot, Gil, but you’re going to have to be patient… you’re basically working a muscle you didn’t even know you had right now, so it’s going to take time.”

“You’re one t’talk, Sunshine,” Gilda shot back playfully. “Miss ‘I can do another pushup-oh crap!’, which was fuckin’ hilarious by the way.”

“Watching your girlfriend faceplant into a rubber yoga mat shouldn’t be hilarious,” Sunset replied in annoyance. “And how is it my arms are already weak noodles!? It’s not fair!”

“Shock’ll do that, I guess,” Gilda answered as she sat up, massaging her temple with her free hand. “Doc Tourniquet said y’gotta be careful gettin’ y’body back up t’speed, Sunflower.”

“I know, I know,” Sunset grumbled. “Anyway, we’re here to help you.”

Gilda blew a raspberry as she glared down at the Huracán. “Yeah, I’m gettin’ real fuckin’ tired of fallin’ over every time I swing this thing.”

“I’m honestly kinda surprised you can use it at all,” Sunset said. “At least without passing out.”

“Wha’dya mean?” Gilda asked raising an eyebrow.

“Hmm, well, think of it like this,” Sunset started. “At least in Equestria, we have an understanding of magic as, essentially a science; the Arcane Sciences specifically. I’m not exactly sure that it works the same way here but…”

“Yeah, yeah, can ya maybe dumb it down for one who evolved from a monkey?” Gilda said, gesturing for Sunset to continue.

“Right, okay, so you understand cars, right?” Sunset began, and Gilda perked up and nodded. “Well, everypony in Equestria has what’s called an Arcanum Fundamentus, it’s basically like an engine, savvy?”

“Okay, what kinda engine?” Gilda asked, sitting up straighter as she listened.

“Well that’s the thing,” Sunset replied. “Not everyone is born equal, different ponies have different ‘engines’; take Princess Twilight, right? She’s a one in a billion, rarer than rare, her ‘engine’ is impossibly strong.” Sighing in playful irritation, Sunset shrugged. “I hate to admit it but horn-to-horn, Twilight could bat me around like a rag doll.”

“So she’s like, some kinda experimental engine?” Gilda asked, “like a sixteen cylinder monster?”

“Sure, let’s go with that,” Sunset said, nodding. “Me on the other hoof? I’m- stop laughing or I’m setting you on fire!” Sunset snapped, and Gilda chuckled and nodded for her to continue. “I’m well above average but not unheard of, like a V-Twelve. I’m definitely a powerhouse, but you kinda have to be to be any kind of pyrothurge.”

“And me?” Gilda asked.

Sunset shrugged. “Couldn’t say yet… I mean, if I had to guess I’d say you’re at least in the same neighborhood as me? Probably not quite as strong, but we won’t know for sure until you’ve worked your magic muscle for a while but…” Sunset gestured at the Huracán, “you’d pretty much have to be at least the magic equivalent of a V-Ten to even activate that thing without passing out. It takes a certain amount of raw power just to turn it on. Either that or your ‘engine’ is insanely efficient.”

“Cool, so I’m either a muscle car, or a four stroke diesel,” Gilda replied with a laugh. “Either way it’s nice to know I’ve got a lot of grunt to get behind.”

“You’re going to need it if you’re ever going to master the Huracán,” Sunset said with a grimace as she turned around and rolled over to the edge of a marked out circle that Gilda had been training in. “I’ve had to recarve the containment runes four times since we started this morning, the Huracán keeps burning them out.”

“Speakin’a which,” Gilda said, glancing over at the edge and wrinkling her nose at the scent of smoke.

“Yup,” Sunset said dryly, glaring down at the scorched grass. “Burnt out again.”

“What are they even for?”

Sunset rubbed tiredly at her face as she reached down from her seat and picked up the heavy stone bearing a blackened sigil and waved her hand. A faint, amber glow suffused the stone and the ash peeled off of it like dust in the wind. Pulling out a small hammer and chisel, Sunset went to work correcting the little imperfections that had been burnt into the rock as she considered how to answer Gilda's question.

It was strange, using magic as a human. Ever since she had flared in the nurse's office, Sunset realised she'd essentially cracked open the floodgates of her magic. Before she'd been able to manage small bursts of heat and mostly directionless flame. Now it was almost like she was back to normal. Not quite as powerful, and certain laws of magic didn't quite translate in this world like they did in Equestria, but Sunset didn't care.

She had her magic back. Maybe in a strange form, and she had to relearn some of the basics, but it was better than nothing. The only thing that concerned her was that her ability to use magic suggested that this world's ambient field was growing strong enough to support complex spell matrices.

“Magic is like any other kind of energy, it radiates and can cause serious problems in large quantities,” Sunset answered finally as she carefully chipped at the stone. “Powerful enough magical discharges can result in permanent thaumic scarring to the ambient magical profile of the region.”

“I literally have no idea whatcha just said past that first sentence,” Gilda admitted. “Is it like nuclear shit?”

“Mm, sort of, but only in the sense that any other energy is,” Sunset clarified. “Let me give you an example… in my world there’s a place called the Badlands,” Sunset set the stone down back in place, and rolled to the next stone in line to repeat the process. “No one exactly knows what happened, but legends say it was once a lush and beautiful valley home to thousands of ponies. The only story is an ancient fairy tale…”

“Well, I ain’t goin’ anywhere, savvy?” Gilda said with a laugh from the ground, gesturing for Sunset to go on. “Let’s hear it.”

“Okay… well, don’t laugh, okay?” Sunset said, moving along the circle to repair the sigils. “So, they say that the Vale of Dreams was protected by a Goddess who wielded the power of light, and one day the skies grew dark with storms that laughed and cast the pegasi from their clouds as the shadows of Tambelon fell once more across the good earth of the Vale; caught unprepared and desperate to protect her little ponies, the Goddess sundered her light. In that release of power the Goddess vanished and the valley was reduced to ashes, it was after that event that the Pony Tribes split into the Earth Pony Republic, the Pegasopolon Imperium, and the Unicorn Kingdom.”

“The valley was just… destroyed?” Gilda asked, wincing a little.

Sunset nodded. “Yeah… and even today the place is a magic-blitzed, sunscorched wasteland. Literally nothing grows there anymore because of the magical radiation that seeped into the ground.”

“Well shit,” Gilda said, grimacing as she sat up and stared at Huracán uneasily. “And this thing is like that?”

“Oh, no,” Sunset replied with a laugh as she set down the last stone. “No, the Huracán is a powerful artifact, but nothing on the scale as the legendary Power of Light. Besides, I don’t think either of us have the ability to break it.”

“Damn,” Gilda swore, standing on shaky legs, “f’being pretty ponies y’magic is fuckin’ terrifyin’, babe.”

“No more so than your peoples’ nuclear bomb,” Sunset said with a wan smile. “I think every culture has their dirty secrets, y’know?”

“Eh, fair enough,” Gilda replied. “Alright, let’s give this another go.”

Planting her feet and closing her eyes, Gilda extended her arms and took a deep breath. The air burned with the acrid taste of ozone as electricity crackled off of Gilda’s body, snapping and striking the ground, hissing wherever it touched. Sunset rolled herself backwards a few feet out of the circle and watched as her girlfriend rose a few inches into the air, her body limned in drifting motes of gray light.

A second later a snap of pressure split the air and Gilda’s beautiful, brown wings stretched out and Sunset couldn’t help but smile. From where she sat, Gilda looked angelic; her face was lined with the tension of concentration as she struggled to maintain control of her growing magical might. A combination of sorcerous power and physical lift brought Gilda higher into the air and the frequency of snaps and bolts of electrical surges scorched the grass below her where the snow had long ago melted from exposure to Sunset and Gilda’s experiments.

“You’re doing great, Gil!” Sunset shouted over the wind and crackle of lightning. “Now try and attune to the Huracán and be careful!”

Gilda opened her eyes and nodded, and Sunset felt her heart catch as she saw white light spilling from Gilda’s eyes, her golden pupils shining with a molten, burning light.

Twirling Huracán like a parade baton, Gilda smirked and shot upward into the sky, carving a trail of lightning behind her as thunder boomed around her.

“Damn it, babe,” Sunset muttered to herself as she watched Gilda shoot off into the sky. “I said ‘be careful’ not ‘fuck with the local meteorological community’...”

Bracing herself, Sunset felt the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck start to rise and the edges of her red locks start to frizz. The metal bars of her wheelchair armrest bit at her fingers with tiny snaps of static just like every other time Gilda had done this.

“Come on, babe,” Sunset quietly cheered. “You can do it.”

The small form in the sky wheeled, one hand gripping a bright and glittering bar of light that Sunset knew was the Huracán. Her eyes widened as the skies around Gilda darkened faintly. That had never happened before and Sunset felt a small surge of panic, silently she wove through a small number of safety spells… Blue Jay’s Banishing Stroke to discharge ambient lightning, Cloud Weaver’s Spellform Syncopation to interrupt a feedback loop, along with a couple of others.

It was as the bolts began arcing out further than ever that Sunset spied flares of bright crimson light emanating from around Gilda's left hand.

“Wait… is that…” Sunset muttered, narrowing her eyes. “Oh shit.”

Spreading her palms, Sunset began curling her fingers through a series of complex symbols as she called up the arcane equations of the spell she was accessing. There was a strong chance that what Gilda was doing would blow right through the other countermeasures she had prepared.

Up in the sky, Gilda felt better than she ever had. Power surged through her as her grip tightened on the Huracán and she aimed down at the middle of the marked out circle.

Hiking her grip up on the haft and cocking her arm fully back, Gilda smirked.

“Suck it, Thor!” Gilda roared as she let the Huracán fly from her hand.

The Huracán leapt from Gilda’s grip with a thunderous report, splitting the sky with the sound of an ocean storm and a force that sent even Gilda rolling backwards in the sky.

“Woah! Shit!” Gilda swore as she wheeled and flapped to regain her balance. “What the hell?!”

The ground quaked as the Huracán struck it with the force of a divine hammer, splitting the earth with its detonation of electrical energy that was barely contained by the binding circle Sunset had built, and even Gilda with her unpracticed eye could tell the circle was straining. Panic shot through her as she realised Sunset was right at the edge and if the circle failed…

“Shit! Sunshine, get outta there!” Gilda screamed, even knowing her voice would be stolen by the wind and thunder.

Sunset heard nothing as she divorced her mind from the panic of the situation, falling into a casting trance and racing to complete the complicated spell before her sigils failed. The rocks were glowing a bright, dangerous orange and the grass around them was catching fire as they absorbed far past their capacity of magical discharge. Just as they began to melt and the sigils distort to nothingness, Sunset completed her casting.

“MORDANT CANE’S DISJUNCTION!”

There was a pulse of something that Gilda could only describe as silence, as Sunset snapped her palms outward towards the coiling pillar of electricity that was erupting from the Huracán and ripping the ground up around it. Wherever the pulse touched, all magic went still.

Lightning died, the molten stones cooled instantly to hard rock, the Huracán rattled violently before snapping back into its compact form and dropping onto the ground…

And Gilda’s wings vanished.

“Uh oh,” Gilda chirped as she immediately dropped like a stone out of the sky, flailing as she tried and failed to call up her magic.

It was like whatever she reached for before was just… gone. Or the distance between her and it was so vast she just couldn’t reach it anymore.

“Oh, right, crap!” Sunset swore as she rolled into the circle to where Gilda was falling.

Spitting out a single syllable and snapping her fingers upwards, a single pulse of clean-smelling air shot up like an arrow from her hand and cushioned around Gilda’s form, slowing her descent considerably. Gilda wheeled her arms awkwardly as she floated downwards towards Sunset who positioned herself underneath the very slowly falling Gilda until the taller girl landed directly in Sunset’s lap, her legs hanging awkwardly over the wheelchair’s armrest as Sunset cradled her girlfriend.

“Sorry about that, Gil,” Sunset said, a little red-faced. “Disjunction is sort of like the ‘nuclear option’ equivalent of countermagic. Fortunately, with how much you fly lately, I always have that other little failsafe ready to cast.”

“Ugh, th’fuck was that?” Gilda asked as she shook her head and started to sit up. “Felt like I was suddenly fallin’ through dry jello.”

“It’s a pretty basic backup most Unicorns have ready in case a cloudwalking or flight spell goes awry or we can’t reach a safe landing point before the duration ends,” Sunset explained. “Ever since New Years I’ve made sure I have it ready to cast at a moment’s notice… I want to be sure I can always catch you.”

“Heh, can’t complain ‘bout that, savvy?” Gilda said as she hopped up to her feet. “It got a fancy name too?”

“Just a simple one…it's called Featherfall,” Sunset replied sardonically. “I figure since you’re always around to catch me, like my own personal spell in a leather jacket, I should return the favor.”

“Right? I make magic look good,” Gilda boasted, tucking her thumbs behind the lapels of her bomber jacket.

A loud applause from the sidelines drew the attention of both girls, who turned to see three familiar figures standing on the edge of the woods, clapping. Sonata was sitting cross-legged on snowy ground in a parka while both Aria and Adagio had more sensible winter coats on, all three were smiling.

“Nice display there, ladies,” Aria said as she broke off from her sisters to approach Sunset and Gilda who sat up from Sunset’s chair and brushed herself off. “I think there might be some half-deaf nonagenarians in Vanhoover who didn’t hear it, though.”

Sonata kipped up with surprising alacrity and joined her older sister while Adagio sauntered up calmly behind them.

“Yup! That was really neat!” Sonata cheered as she dodged around Aria and circled Gilda. “Where’d your shiny spear go?”

“Oh, yeah,” Gilda held out her hand towards the crater in the middle of the binding circle. A faint rattle of metal sounded and the compacted hilt flew from where it had been buried to land squarely in Gilda’s palm.

Adagio raised an eyebrow at that and whistled. “You have fairly decent control over that for a mere neophyte.”

“Y’mom’s a neophyte,” Gilda replied with a smirk, earning a groan from Sunset.

“Really, Gil? ‘Your Mom’ jokes are dead, let them rest in peace,” Sunset admonished before rolling up to the sirens. “Thanks for coming out you three, I wasn’t really sure who else to call.”

“Well, there really isn’t anyone else unless old bell-head banished any other spell-weaving immortals to this rock,” Adagio answered.

“Yeah, and between the three of us ‘Dagi is the only real sorceress,” Aria said. “I was a Myrmidon back before we went AWOL.”

“And I was a mathomancer!” Sonata added in from the side.

Slapping her palm to her face, Adagio groaned. “That’s not a word, nor is it a mystic art, ‘Nata… you’re a disgrace to the most famous discipline of our people.”

Sonata blew a raspberry at her sister as Sunset’s eyes widened.

“Wait, wait matho- no… you were a Geometer?” Sunset blurted out. “Are you serious?! That’s impossible! Starswirl the Bearded was the one who introduced Geomantic Arcana in his seminal work: Dialogues on the Sciences of Magic.”

“Hah! More like stole it from our ruined civilization,” Adagio countered. “How do you think we cast harmonic magic? Music is just math, my dear, and that old codger just looted the corpse of our sunken kingdom for our knowledge of it, guess someone needs to learn to cite their sources.”

“In all fairness, it’s not like they were using it anymore,” Aria added with a dry smirk. “Besides, what did they ever do with it except blow the whole island to the bottom of the Coltlantian Sea?”

“Build the most advanced civilization in the world that lasted for over two millennia, maybe?” Adagio countered.

“And then they blew themselves to the bottom of the Coltlantian Sea!” Sonata put in cheerily.

“We only survived because we were functionally immortal,” Aria added. “And we were only that because of the gems that ‘Nata built and ‘Dagi enchanted. I’m basically the dumb muscle of the group.”

Adagio frowned and walked up to Aria, putting an arm around her sister’s shoulder. “That’s not true, Ari’, you’re our sister, and it’s not even like your magic is really all that weaker than ours.”

“I’m a Hyperkineticist, ‘Dagi, or I was,” Aria said blithely. “My magic literally just translated into punching things harder and faster than everyfish else just like every other Myrmidon in the Royal Guard.”

“But your position let you warn us about what the Empress was about to do,” Adagio reminded her sister. “If it weren’t for you all of our magic would have meant nothing. We would have been buried with the rest of our people.”

“Dunno if I can pronounce all’a that,” Gilda cut in as she walked up to Aria, “But I wouldn’t mind hittin’ shit harder and faster. I mean, have ya seen me?” Gilda gestured down to herself. “That’s basically all I do, and I’m pretty fuckin’ sure I ain’t cut out to do Sunshine’s kind’a magic.”

“Most likely not,” Adagio agreed before turning back to Sunset. “You cast much like I do, you’re what we would have called a Universalist; a practitioner of many schools of magic.”

“I’m technically a Pyrothurge,” Sunset corrected her friend. “But yeah, I have dual Major Principals in Pyrokinetic Conjuration and Advanced Arcane Theory, as well as Minor Principals in Advanced Spellcraft, High Countermagic, Pyrokinetic Evocation, Advanced Sigilic Arts, and Home Economics.”

“Home Ec?” Gilda asked with a laugh, and Sunset frowned.

“I liked cooking, okay?” Sunset grumbled.

“That’s an impressive laundry list of accomplishments, Sunny,” Adagio admitted. “You’re probably on the same level as me, then, sans about a thousand years of experience, of course.”

“That’s why I asked you here, actually,” Sunset said, leaning back in her chair as she steepled her fingers. “I wanted to know if any of you were getting your magic back.”

The sirens glanced at each other, frowning before looking back to Sunset and shaking their heads solemnly.

“We tied our magic up in our gems,” Adagio explained. “It was a necessary sacrifice to achieve our spell of eternal youth. The advanced matrices of the gems let us store and amplify the power along very specific arcane patterns.”

“Yeah…” Sonata said in a slightly sad voice. “I couldn’t figure out how to transfer our magic to the gems without burning out our meridians, I might’ve been able to if I had more time but…” Sonata sniffled a little and Aria pulled her little sister into a hug.

“We’ve toldja, ‘Nata,” Aria said softly. “You did great, you did the best you could… wasn’t your fault the Empress and her stupid coven accidentally blew up the island.”

Adagio nodded along with her sister. “Yes, so… even if we were regaining a semblance of our magic we would never know since we lack the physical means to channel it.”

“I see, I thought that might be the case, actually,” Sunset admitted. “I’d never seen gems like yours before; I couldn’t fathom how they worked until I gave it some thought. Plus, I would have thought you would have regained your magic long before I did since you were saturated in it but…”

“It’s no one’s fault,” Adagio said with a dry smile. “After all, we had a good run, and our ambient magic will keep us around for at least another few centuries before we start aging again, probably a lot more given how much power we extracted before the Rainbooms broke our gems.”

Sunset slipped her hand into her pocket, feeling the soft bag that lay within. A part of her was worried… when she’d made her proposition to Twilight she’d half expected the Princess to vehemently say no, but instead… Twilight had told Sunset that she trusted the former Unicorn, and would do it if she asked. Sunset might have been a powerful caster with a massive repertoire of spells, but Twilight was a true Geometer, in addition to being a fearsome sorceress. Only Princess Twilight had the know-how to do what Sunset had asked.

And she had.

The question was… did she really want to go through with it and take the risk? Gilda was all for it of course, things were decidedly simple for her which Sunset envied a little. The Sirens had been good to Sunset and to Gilda alike, there was no doubt in Gilda’s mind like there was in Sunset’s.

“C’mon, Sunshine,” Gilda said quietly from Sunset’s side. “Just say it.”

“Yeah…” Sunset answered. “Hey… ‘Dagi?”

“Mhm?” Adagio replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Do you trust me?”

Adagio raised an eyebrow, and shrugged. “If I’m being honest… yes, I do. I’m not really sure why, maybe because you’ve walked a mile in my shoes, and I in yours, and maybe because I feel like I owe you… but yes, I do trust you, Sunset.”

“Same here, Red,” Aria put in with a smirk. “You aren’t really that complicated. You’re a good gal with a short temper and a lot of power. Believe me, I get that.”

“I think you’re awesome!” Sonata cheered.

Sunset felt a small stone of guilt settle into her chest as she heard their words. They weren’t saying them to earn brownie points or kiss up to her, Sunset had nothing to offer them as far as they knew. They had wealth, a good home, and satisfying work. There was no reason for them to be kind to her but… they were.

No, that’s not true… they had all the reason in the world because they were her friends.

“I… I never got you three Christmas presents, did I?” Sunset started, smiling softly.

Aria crooked an eyebrow and grinned. “Dunno if you’ve seen our place, Shimmer, but I’m pretty sure we don’t need anything, no offense.”

“The thought is sweet, though,” Adagio added.

“Y’gonna do it or what?” Gilda asked with a dry laugh, drawing a look of confusion from the Sirens.

“I know, I know,” Sunset said. “Look… they’re not as good as your old ones, and they’re probably a lot more fragile but…” Sunset drew out the small sack and pulled the drawstring on it, tipping out its contents into her hands.

Sitting in Sunset’s palm were three beautiful, multifaceted, sea-green gemstones that glittered in the winter sunlight.

“Here, I asked Twilight to fabricate these for you,” Sunset held them up. “They’re pure, don’t worry, and they can’t amplify negative emotions. They’re just foci, really, but-”

Sunset’s words were interrupted by a loud sob coming from, of all people, Adagio, who was staring down at the shining gems with her hands over her mouth. Both of her sisters were staring as well, stunned into silence at what was in front of them.

Shakily, Adagio walked forward, pulling her gloves off as she did, and reached out to pluck one of the gems from Sunset’s hand. Swallowing hard, Adagio pulled a small black ribbon from her inner pocket, a few red fragments still hung from the centerpiece. Sniffling, Adagio shook the fragments off and fixed the new gem in place where her old one had lain before wrapping it around her neck and tying it off.

“H-Hey… ‘Dagi…” Aria said in whisper-soft voice. “D-does it… does it work?”

Closing her eyes, Adagio held out her hands and sung out a soft, trilling tune, and the gem glowed faintly in conjunction with Adagio’s voice. It was weak at first, but a faint green light flickered to life between her palms, faintly and then stronger until it shone like a small star.

Opening her eyes, Adagio stared at the simple magilight like it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

“Yes, Ari’,” Adagio choked out around happy tears. “Yes, it works.”

Sonata let out a wooping cheer as she dove forward to snatch up her own gem followed quickly on her heels by Aria. Both of them pulled out their shattered gems hanging from their old ribbons and fixed the gems in place before tying each other’s off.

Wiping at her eyes, Adagio turned and smiled faintly at Gilda. “You’re very lucky you found her first, Gilda,” Adagio said dryly, “or else nothing would stop me from making that girl there my mate for life.”

“Try it and I’ll shove that gem right up y’Mareianas Trench,” Gilda replied with a smirk.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” Adagio shot back.

“Well, that answers the question as to whether or not your ability to use magic is back,” Sunset said. “Even without your artifact-grade gems, you can still channel, which leads us to the next and most unpleasant part of this little experiment.”

“Wha’dya mean?” Gilda asked, kneeling down to Sunset’s level.

Sunset grimaced as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “We have to know how magic is flowing, you’ve got it, I’ve got it, and the sirens have it… now I need to test a theory which means… ugh… we have to talk to my ex-best friends.”

Twilight Sparkle stared at her computer with slightly glazed eyes, a pencil tucked between her lips as she chewed on the eraser while redoing the calculations that were scrolling past her in her head. She’d done it a thousand times and they just didn’t add up; it was absolutely infuriating. No amount of energy cycles, frequencies, or pulses put through the digital model of the gauntlets elicited a reaction.

The gauntlets had reacted very faintly when whatever had happened five days ago had occurred, but since then there’d been nothing. No detectable power spikes, no strange surges of that odd radiation.

Nothing.

And worse… Pawnee had gone silent.

Ever since a few hours after the major surge they had detected at the beginning of the week, Pawnee had been offline. No messages, no responses, nothing… just silence. Twilight was getting worried and… if she was being honest… a little upset. Pawnee had never just abandoned her like this. They’d been talking practically every day for over a year. Pawnee was her best friend and now they were just… gone.

Sighing, Twilight leaned back in her chair and curled up on it, tucking her knees up to her face.

“This is stupid, Twilight,” she muttered to herself. “Pawnee probably just had something come up… you don’t need to get upset over it.”

Talking to herself didn’t help, but she pretended it did. Not talking to Pawnee for so long had left a hollow ache in Twilight’s heart.

“Crushes aren’t suppose to hurt this bad, are they?” Twilight asked nobody in particular. “They supposed to make you happy…”

Ding.

Twilight’s eyes went wide at the sound of a message notification from her chat server. The one that only she and Pawnee shared. Scrabbling over to her desk, Twilight opened the server and clicked the new message tab open.

//Pawnee4: hey babe, where you wanna go on our first date?//

Twilight’s eye went from wide and hopeful to twitching.

//Labrat19: REALLY?! YOU VANISH FOR A WEEK AND THAT’S THE FIRST QUESTION YOU ASK?!//

//Pawnee4: Aw, hey, look, I’m real sorry about that, sav? I wasn’t around my setup for a while and my connection wasn’t secure, you know how it is...//

Pursing her lips and scowling, Twilight dropped back into her chair and crossed her arms. Breathing out slowly, Twilight felt a small smile tug its way back onto her face.

Pawnee was back, and that was all that mattered.

//Labrat19: Yeah… okay, I forgive you.//

//Pawnee4: Love you, you messy bitch. So ya didn’t answer my question, where ya wanna go?//

Rolling her eyes as she glared up at her messy bun of hair, then down at her stained labcoat. Twilight laughed a little and typed out her response.

//Labrat19: I’ve never been on a date before… but, I guess the Crystal Emporium Mall? It’s got pretty much got everything.//

//Pawnee4: Cor, meet you there in a half-hour!//

Twilight chuckled as she read Pawnee’s response.

Then she reread it.

“WHAT?!”

Author's Notes:

Day early chapter since there was nothing last week. Can you catch all the references? Also, show some love for the sirens, I love those girls.

So... who wants to meet Pawnee?