//------------------------------//
// Our... Survival?! 
// Story: When Life Gives You Snow... 
// by TheGJ90 
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Rise, dears! You are among friends here!


Adagio woke up with a start, a fierce cough having roused her from her apparent slumber. She barely had the strength and energy to move, so the act of sitting up was a difficult process in of itself. Her splitting headache raged on, but she did notice something cold and wet on her forehead as she moved her upper-body. Unfortunately, she did not notice this in time to stop that something from falling onto her lap with an audible slushy sound. Looking down, she recognized the item to be a small ice bag, although the headache-induced blurriness of her vision made it difficult for her to see this at first. Once the blurriness had eased up enough, she grabbed the bag with her now bare right hand to inspect it further. Judging by the size and quantity of the ice contained within, she had surmised that this was put to use very recently. Placing it back on her lap, she took a quick moment to check herself, starting by running her hands through her remarkably large and puffy hair. It only took her seconds to recognize the signs of her having a terrible case of bed hair. Nothing a good hour or so in front of a bathroom mirror couldn't fix, of that she was certain. Upon further inspection, her nose was still more than a little stuffy, she felt some kind of congestion in her throat and chest, and by the currents, did her stomach growl! At the same time, however, she did not expect that most of her usual meals would be appetizing at the moment, a fact that the queasiness that was paired with the growling made abundantly clear. She wiggled her toes and feet to notice that they were wearing thick woolly socks, which were warm and comfortable, albeit a tad itchy. A minor annoyance that she would take over frostbite any day of the week. With her vision cleared up, she looked at her immediate surroundings to take further stock of the situation. She appeared to be in the living room of a well off family, complete with fancy furniture, a wall-mounted widescreen television, and shelves adorned with family photos and trophies that, if her eyes were not failing her, were awards for academic triumphs: the tell-tale sign that this was the home of an intellectual.

"At least I won't have to deal with a fool..." she thought to herself with relief;

Taking a gander at what she was sitting on, she recognized it to be a large brown couch of reasonable quality. Nothing about this place screamed of the lavish luxury that matched Adagio's discerning tastes, but it would suffice for now. If she had her way, though, she would happily replace the brown carpet... and the positively drab grey wallpaper! A warm thick blue blanket had covered her lower-body, another treat for the senses that she greatly appreciated. She took a moment to really feel the rest of the clothes that now covered her body; a standard t-shirt and thick pants that were almost as wooly as her socks. Poor replacements for the outfits that were more in line with her high standards, but after walking through the closest thing to Tartarus itself not too long ago, a simple set of warm clothing might as well have been luxurious to her. She relaxed into the cushions, allowing gravity to take hold as she basked in her newfound warmth. She figured she could go shopping for more familiar attire with her sisters once the storm-.

"Aria! Sonata!" she yelled out with a hoarse voice before another fierce set of coughs stopped her from doing anything else, her train of thought driven entirely off the rails by her honed sisterly instincts and current illness. As if signaled by her loud predicament, the door to the living room flew open. She could not see who came in, for her eyes were closed tight on account of her coughing fit. The person's feminine voice, however, she could recognize from a mile away;

"Easy there! The coughing will pass with time and care, I promise!"

It was the voice of one of the girls Adagio wanted nothing to do with, if she could help it. The worry it was oozed with annoyed her almost as much as the coughing did. After her body calmed down, she looked up to face her eye to eye. The sight before her filled her with an old anger, only for confusion to take its place. This girl had her voice and much of her looks, and yet, to the once magical Siren's perceptive eyes...

"No... you're not her... you're this world's Twilight Sparkle," was her response as she raised her right eyebrow in surprise.

It was her host's turn to be surprised, for she asked inquisitively;

"What made you come to that conclusion?"

Adagio pointed at her black thick-rimmed glasses and carefully styled pony tail, an action that she was quick to catch on to as she responded with a short laugh that betrayed a hint of relief before noting;

"Good eye, but for the sake of simplicity, you can call me Sci-Twi, if you wish... Adagio Dazzle, is it?"

She nodded her head before remembering what had previously upset her, which prompted her to try to get up off of the couch before the lack of energy in her limbs had really hit home for her. Sci-Twi gently rested her hands on the sickly girl's shoulders while explaining;

"Your body needs to recover, especially after what you've been through. Rest and good food will help you with that."

Adagio shook her head in protest before explaining with thinly veiled concern;

"My sisters, I need to see if they're-"

"They'll be fine," Sci-Twi calmly noted as she attempted to soothe her guest's worries;

"I've given them Mom and Dad's bed to use for now. The girls are checking on them at the moment, they should be coming over here shortly."

This was enough to calm Adagio down enough to lay back onto the couch, although she did wonder as to who was checking on her sea-kin. As much as she wanted to investigate the matter personally, she knew her body was in no condition to let her make the journey. Sci-Twi moved the blanket to have it cover as much of her body as possible while placing the ice bag back onto her forehead. The cold ice made for a respectable reprieve from the raging pain in her head. She could feel the urge to sleep growing, helped along by the gentle pull of gravity. But, there was something she had to ask her host;

"Do you know who we are? What we have done?" she questioned to Sci-Twi, her calm voice and sickly rasp hiding her feelings regarding such things.

With a nod and slight nervousness in her physical mannerisms, she replied honestly;

"Yes, I do. I'm helping you three regardless of that, just so you know."

Adagio's eyes began to flutter as sleep wrapped itself around her mind, silently telling her it was time to rest. The last things she heard before sinking into its embrace was the rushing of footsteps and a young feminine voice that had a distinct southern drawl that spoke in strained annoyance that was barely hidden;

"Should'a reckon'd that their leader would be the first to wake up..."

She had awoken again, this time with no ice bag and slightly less ache in her head. The congestion remained though, much to her internalized dismay. After slowly sitting up, she found that her body's energy had increased! Not enough for her to get up and walk about, but progress was progress, she supposed. Her head felt more than a little groggy, which she chocked up as a symptom of her illness. She looked to her right to see a very different sight this time around. Three girls stood before her, each one rocking a unique appearance. The one on the left had white skin, long purple hair with pink highlights, and green eyes. The one on the right had orange skin, short purple hair, and purple eyes. The one in the middle had yellowish pale skin, light brown eyes, and red hair that probably would have reached down to her knees, if it wasn't held up on the back of her head by an oversized red bow. Their outfits were fine to Adagio's eyes, but nothing to write home about. What had actually gotten her curiosity were two things: the fact that they all seemed terribly familiar to her and that they were giving her a glare that could melt a glacier, as if they were waiting for her to start causing trouble. Adagio could not blame them for this, though. After all, Sirens would always cause trouble wherever they went.

Well, that used to be the case for her and her sisters, but that was beside the point!

After staring each other down for what felt like a minute, she decided to break the ice with a simple question and a raised right eyebrow;

"Have I seen you three somewhere before?"

The trio of girls looked confused at this, though not insulted. It was the red head, who apparently had the southern drawl from earlier, who responded calmly;

"Ah can understand ya' not rememberin' us. Ah mean, you're about as sick as a dog with the flu, so Ah can bet good cider that your brain is foggy like the streets outside are right now."

Adagio could not disagree with that sentiment, but she did not like the mischief in the orange girl's smirk as she suggested with a dash of excitement;

"I say we give her that hint we talked about earlier."

The other two nodded happily in agreement. With a giggle, the green-eyed girl stood in attention, cleared her throat, and declared while trying to sound as professional as possible while pretending to hold a microphone up to her mouth with her right hand;

"Adagio Dazzle, please report to the Principal's Office immediately!"

Adagio's eyes went wide with shock upon hearing the word "Principal" as the gears in her sickly head turned with enough force to clear up the grogginess and connect the dots. She saw these girls before, in the school! In Canterlot High School! Her shock quickly gave way to pure annoyance and frustration. She groaned while grabbing the hair on her head with both hands and raised her head to face the ceiling. She held this position for a moment or two before lowering it back to down along with her hands to face the girls, who were now dealing with a loud case of the giggles and snorts. With an exasperated sigh, she declared with no small amount of disdain in her nasally rasp-ridden voice while giving them an expression of agitation restrained by composure;

"Of course, I would be taken in by a bunch of... what did you all call yourselves again?"

The grogginess in her head returned with a vengeance as she spoke, which did not make remembering such a detail any easier as she guessed;

"Wonder... bolts?"

They had recovered from their mirth quickly enough to hear her words, which prompted the orange girl to correct her with a satisfied grin;

"We're Wondercolts, Adagio. But, Wonderbolts does have an awesome ring to it."

While she held her chin with her right index finger to contemplate the possibility of improving the school's team name, the red head took the opportunity to make some things clear to the ill lady who sat on the couch before her, but not before taking a breath and showing a neutral expression on her face, her voice calm and polite;

"Ah'm gonna be real honest with ya'. We don't like ya' none and we're quite sure ya' don't like us none."

"Heh, she's not wrong," Adagio thought to herself as she saw her shut her eyes for a moment, sighed, and opened them up. Her neutral expression melted away into one of concern before continuing with sweetness added to every word she uttered;

"Even so, we ain't gonna let ya' or your sisters suffer when we can do somethin' to help."

The eldest Siren's long life had prepared her for a great many things, and dealing with "bleeding hearts" like these girls was one of them. She glared at each of the girls intensely, trying to find any sign of them pretending to give a care. But, all she could see was honest concern in each of them. This confused her enough to investigate with a raised eyebrow;

"But wh-"

She was stopped in her tracks by the green-eyed girl, who waggled her right index finger while proclaiming;

"We'll have no buts from you, missy! We're helping you three get back on your feet and that's final."

With a hearty laugh, the red head chimed in with a wink aimed squarely at the dumbfounded Adagio;

"We should probably introduce ourselves, y'all. We did meet before, but it's only polite, after all."

She bumped her chest with her fist in a proud fashion before declaring;

"The name's Apple Bloom!"

The green-eyed girl waved at Adagio with a big smile on her face as she told with a hint of dignity;

"My name's Sweetie Belle."

The orange girl gave her a thumbs up as she revealed her name with gusto;

"I'm Scootaloo!"

Adagio was clearly trying to process things in her head, a fact that prompted the girls to run out of the room, but not before Sweetie Belle could tell her as they ran off;

"Give us a shout if you need us!"

It took several deep breaths for the Siren to collect herself enough to ask herself the question she tried to ask the now absent trio of Wondercolts, the same question she wished she was able to ask Sci-Twi;

Why...?

By that point, the brain fog and headache conspired to deny her the ability to fully flesh out that thought, so she decided to sleep on it.